Zee's Advisory Committee To Now Have Investigation Role
The committee was formed last week to review alleged widespread circulation of misinformation, market rumours and speculation about Zee.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. has expanded the scope of its recently constituted independent advisory committee to include an investigation to review the allegations levelled by regulators and other parties.
The board on Tuesday added investigation assessment as a primary responsibility of the committee and amended the name from "Independent Advisory Committee” to "Independent Investigation Committee," according to an exchange filing.
The committee was formed last week to review the alleged widespread circulation of misinformation, market rumours and speculation about Zee.
Former Allahabad High Court Judge Satish Chandra will serve as the committee's chairman, and PVR Murthy and Uttam Prakash Agarwal are its two independent directors.
The investigation committee has been tasked with fact-checking, check/review/ examine all allegations against the company, its promoters and top management through a "deep dive exercise." It can also appoint any other independent outside agency for assistance.
The committee will then submit its report to the board with a set of recommendations.
Zee said the misinformation and market rumours have led to negative public opinion about the company and "consequent erosion of investor wealth.".
Zee Hit With Probes, Sony Deal Fallout
The move comes amid a series of troubling news for the Subhash Chandra-founded company, leading to a nearly 40% decline in the stock since the start of the year.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India might issue a show cause notice to Zee next month in a fund diversion case, NDTV Profit reported.
The market regulator is currently summoning directors to further investigate claims of fund diversion and is committed to closing the investigation process by April, according to people with knowledge of the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.
As part of its investigation, the regulator has detected a likely fund diversion of Rs 2,000 crore.
Earlier this month, SEBI, in an interim order, asked several guest experts on Zee Business to repay Rs 7.41 crore in alleged unlawful gains made by taking positions contrary to their on-air advice.
The investigation focused on the correlation between trading activities and the stock recommendations of the experts from Feb. 1, 2022, to Dec. 31, 2022.
Later, Zee clarified that these noticee(s) are external and independent guests with whom the company had no relation beyond their TV appearances on Zee Business channel.
Media reports have also indicated the media company is trying to review the $10 billion merger talks with Sony Group.
On Jan. 22, the merger between Zee Entertainment and Sony Group's India unit, Culver Max Entertainment, was called off, causing a significant loss in the former's stock price.
