The mutual fund house had side deals with some firms that saw it look the other way when rules were flouted, hurting the interests of investors.
Just when we thought the Franklin Templeton India affair couldn’t get any messier, it did.
A forensic audit commissioned by the Securities and Exchange Board of India and subsequent investigations by the regulator into the closure of the six debt mutual fund schemes on 23 April last year have uncovered instances of the fund house’s management taking the side of promoters of companies and condoning violations of contractual obligations. Observance of these covenants would have helped it protect the interests of the schemes and, by extension, the investors.
So egregious were the instances of Franklin Templeton’s top executives compromises with …
Jayshree is a former writer at The Morning Context. As journalist, she had nearly a decade of experience across Mint, Business Standard and Bloomberg TV India. The bulk of her career has been devoted to tracking the capital markets regulator, exchanges, regulatory policies, financial scams and corporate governance issues. One of her biggest breaking stories was her incisive coverage of the colocation scam which put the lapses at NSE in the public domain.
jayshree@mailtmc.com