Shashi Tharoor May Lose His Job
Shashi Tharoor, who has pushed the government into a politically embarrassing corner, may be asked to put in his papers soon. The Congress leadership appears to have concluded that the minister’s continuation in the government has become untenable after it was detected that he negotiated with Rendezvous for a higher share of sweat equity for his friend Sunanda Pushkar.
According to Section 79A of the Companies Act, 1956, a company can issue “sweat equity” only a year after commencing business. The Kochi franchise was registered only on March 17, 2010.
This is not the only issue that the minister has failed to explain to the leadership. The company has also violated the restriction on the issue of sweat equity shares prescribed by the Companies
Act, for showering largesse on Ms Pushkar. A company, it appears, cannot issue sweat equity shares for over 15% of the total paid-up capital in a year or shares of the value of Rs 5 crore, whichever is higher and the firm has to get prior approval of the government. The rules also say that no matter what the agreement between the company and sweat equity holder states, sweat equity cannot be cashed out in less than three years.
The SEC alleged that Goldman Sachs, led by chief executive officer Lloyd Blankfein, 55, structured and marketed CDOs that hinged on the performance of subprime mortgage-backed securities. The New York-based firm failed to disclose to investors that hedge fund Paulson & Co was betting against the CDO, known as Abacus, and influenced the selection of securities for the portfolio, the SEC said.