BR Shetty resigns as co-chairman of Finablr

Mumbai: Payments and foreign exchange solutions provider Finablr on Monday said its founder B R Shetty has resigned as director and co-chairman with immediate effect.

Charges against Shetty, also the founder of NMC Health, a healthcare provider in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), include under-reporting of debt and not using loans for the purpose they were raised. Mint reported on 30 April that Shetty has claimed innocence in the alleged financial irregularities in NMC Health and said he is pursuing legal action and remedies.

In another statement to the London Stock Exchange on Monday, Finablr said that it has received a notification from the United Kingdom (UK) government’s HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) about two of its subsidiary companies, UAE Exchange UK Ltd and Xpress Money Services Ltd, regarding their proposed suspension and suspension, respectively, of their business registrations.

“Suspension of business registration would result in cessation of business by the relevant entities unless and until the suspension is lifted. The company intends to work with HMRC to attempt to restore the registrations,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported on Monday that a commercial court in Bengaluru has temporarily restrained Shetty from selling certain assets following a petition filed by Commercial Bank of Dubai PSC. State-owned Bank of Baroda had in May got a similar relief from a sessions court in Bengaluru. According to another Bloomberg report on 30 April, Finablr, uncovered about $1 billion of debt hidden from its board that may have been used for purposes outside of the company, compounding a scandal that pushed its sister firm NMC Health Plc into administration.

The London-listed company and its creditors found that Finablr Group’s overall debt was about $1.3 billion, excluding the debt of its Travelex Holdings Ltd unit and “materially above” its last reported figure.