Manipulation Allegations in DHFL CIRP: Echoes of Electoral Malpractices and Erosion of Trust

Manipulation Allegations in DHFL CIRP: Echoes of Electoral Malpractices and Erosion of Trust

Posted on 1st December, 2024 (GMT 13:30 hrs)

ABSTRACT

The article highlights allegations of manipulation in DHFL’s Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP), drawing parallels to alleged electoral malpractices in recent Indian elections. Concerns include voting irregularities, procedural flaws, lack of transparency, and compromised fairness, allegedly benefiting politically connected entities. Victims have raised doubts about the integrity of the process, linking it to systemic issues in governance, such as restricted RTI access and opaque financial audits. The narrative underscores fears of institutional erosion and the undermining of public trust in democratic and financial systems.

“That a political party which works for the defense and growth of capitalism is called “Socialist,” and a despotic government “democratic,” and a rigged election “free” are familiar linguistic-and political-features which long predate Orwell.” — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man (1964)

The RBI-appointed CoC for DHFL has raised serious concerns about potential manipulation in its voting processes during the resolution process/CIRP of the DHFL (2019-2021), echoing or mirroring the unprecedented patterns seen in broader political contexts like recent election riggings aiding the BJP’s victory, as was seen in the examples of the Lok Sabha Elections (2024) and the Maharashtra Elections (2024).

The Legitimation Crisis of Indian Elections VIEW HERE ⤡

Several red flags have emerged in this observed “habitual malpractice” that has been deployed both in the cases of electoral rigging for ensuring BJP’s victory and/or in the case of ensuring Mr. Piramal (BJP’s long-standing close associate)’s victory in the context of the DHFL scam.

Let us rewind and remind ourselves of the Voting Process on the resolution plan during the CIRP of the DHFL, which draws close parallels to the recently rigged elections:

A. Voting Irregularities

The DHFL Victims reported multiple failed attempts to register their votes after the CoC meetings, dismissed as “technical glitches” (?!) by the officials.

B. Process Discrepancies

1. Observations highlighted in the following OBMA articles reveal major procedural flaws in the RBI-appointed CoC “approved” resolution plan and resolution process carried out thereof.

2. The first NCLT (19/05/2021) and second NCLAT (27/01/2022) orders deemed the resolution plan and process unfair (note: both of these verdicts are now being treated at the SCI as “impugned orders”), but SC’s stay on 11.04.2022 allowed Mr. Ajay Piramal to retain his alleged “adverse” ownership of an ongoing concern, viz., DHFL.

C. Transparency Issues

The CoC representatives, viz., the Resolution Professionals, Administrator as well as the Representative of Public Depositors, withheld critical information from the DHFL Victims including the RP itself, undermining fairness and transparency in the entire process.

The same kind of lack of transparency has been widely observed in the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, as noted in the following two OBMA articles:

Despite repeated transparency activists, no one could expose the audits of the PM CARES fund as well as the RBI-Appointed CoC’s expenditures during the DHFL CIRP.

It is striking enough (?) that the RTI tool is in no way working under the present oligarchical regime in India. Is it possible that none knows “who spent what” in both these cases?

These parallels to recent election rigging by the BJP amplify victims’ fears of foul play in the DHFL resolution process. The victims are anticipating rigging in the process of the DHFL resolution, which is analogous to the recent instances of rigged elections.