Minister of Power and Corporate Affairs Veerappa Moily on Tuesday said that no violations had been found in the functioning of the companies owned by Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Responding to queries on the sidelines of the Economic Editors Conference here, he said, “With regard to Robert Vadra’s six companies, no irregularities or violations have been found. As far as DLF is concerned also, no violations were found.” He added that some technical violations were found a year ago with regard to DLF, and action was taken.
Realty major DLF and Vadra have been in news following allegations levelled by Arvind Kejriwal of India Against Corruption hinting at a possible quid pro quo in DLF giving unsecured loans to Vadra’s companies.
Corporate Governance
Moily said that the committee headed by Adi Godrej to formulate a national policy on corporate governance had suggested some guiding principles. The Securities and Exchange Board of India was considering these, including changes in the listing agreement.
The Ministry was also examining how to accommodate these principles in the policy framework.
According to the guidelines, top management of companies should take the lead in corporate governance, besides training and familiarisation of independent directors and directors with the affairs of the company so that they can participate in its functioning more proactively.
“A committee has been formed under former SEBI Chairman M. Damodaran, which will look at ways of improving the ease of doing business. It will look into areas such as financial reforms, governance reforms, process reforms, etc.”
The committee, which is expected to hold its first meeting on Wednesday, is expected to submit its report in six months.
The Ministry also said that new rules are required to govern the functioning of multi-level marketing firms and has finalised these rules in collaboration with the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, for which RBI was also consulted.
The Ministry has also asked the Registrar of Companies to be “very alert about the activities of multi-level marketing companies particularly when they give advertisements