Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 10 (IANS) A leading Malayalam daily Wednesday said it was not linked "legally or morally" to a finance company that has gone bust.
Malayala Manorama editor and managing director Mammen Mathew said in an e-mail to IANS that it was unfortunate that a section of the Kerala media was wrongly portraying the failed company, Integrated Finance Company Limited (IFCL), as a Malayala Manorama company.
"Malayala Manorama has no role, involvement in the policy decisions or in the day-to-day management of the Integrated Finance Company Limited. Referring to Integrated Finance Company Limited as a Malayala Manorama Company is wrong. The insinuation that it is a Malayala Manorama Company is totally baseless," Mathew said.
"It is very unfortunate that a small section of the media in Kerala is wrongly portraying Integrated Finance Company Limited as a Malayala Manorama company. Malayala Manorama is not in any way connected with the management of Integrated Finance Company Limited," Mathew added.
The Chennai headquartered IFCL has 15 of its 18 branches in Thiruvalla, Pathanamthitta and Kottayam districts of Kerala, where it is believed to hold deposits and bonds of Rs.2 billion.
Things started going wrong for IFCL a month back when depositors could not withdraw their money.
Instead, depositors got a letter from IFCL stating the company had applied to the Madras High Court for restructuring as falling interest rates had forced it to rework its operations.
The letter said the company had deposits of Rs.300 million and had issued bonds worth Rs.950 million.
The company said it will repay those who have deposits of up to Rs.20,000 and that the others would have to wait till the restructuring is complete.
"In view of certain practical and legal difficulties and to bring an overall settlement of all our clients, we have approached the Madras High Court with a scheme of arrangement and compromise with our clients. We would discuss this with them on the 10th of this month," the letter said.
Many depositors have gone on record to say they invested with IFCL because its advertisements stated the company had the backing of Malayala Manorama, MRF Tyres and OEN Connectors (a private limited company).
