The cases involved a total consideration of 34 million UAE dirhams
Atlas Ramachandran
KOCHI: The flamboyant Atlas Group chairman M.M. Ramachandran was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment by a Dubai court on Thursday in connection with the cases of two bounced cheques. Mr Ramachandran, 74, owner of the group “trusted by crores of people” has been under police custody since August.
Ahamad Shiha, the presiding judge of the Dubai Misdemeanour Court, pronounced the judgment. Mr Ramachandran’s wife was present in the court. The cases involved a total consideration of 34 million UAE dirhams.
Mr. Ramachandran, once ranked as the 100 most powerful Indian businessmen in the Gulf Cooperation Council, ran into financial trouble nearly one year back as over a dozen banks in Dubai filed a complaint against him for defaulting on loan repayments.
The Atlas Group has a chain of jewellery stores in various countries in West Asia and India. In UAE alone, the group has around 20 retail outlets. Besides jewellery, the Group also has business interests in healthcare in Sultanate of Oman.
The verdict against Mr Ramachandran came amidst reports about financial restructuring of the group with the support of Maas Group, a UAE-based investment firm. The restructuring plan involved equity infusion by the investment firm into the business owned by Atlas Group in UAE and Oman.
The daughter of Mr Ramachandran is also serving a jail term in Dubai in connection with another bounced cheque case.
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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