The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea by Fortis Healthcare to implement Malaysian healthcare giant IHH’s open offer for infusing funds in the hospital chain.

Meanwhile, a stay issued by the apex court in 2018, over the open offer of ₹3,400 crore which is stuck in an escrow account of a local Indian bank, remains.

The earlier over ₹4,000-crore infused by IHH into FHL to strengthen its sinking health, through preferential allotment, were completely utilised in buying back assets of Religare Health Trust (RHT) which owned a chunk of hospital businesses and had Fortis Healthcare as one of its investors.

The apex court had earlier asked each of the two Singh brothers, ex-promoters of Fortis, to deposit close to ₹1,175 crore each in the court. Both the Singh brothers expressed their inability to have deposited the said amount in the court on Monday.

In case of inability to pay, the brothers risk going to jail for violating the court’s direction.

The top court has also given more time to the brothers to pay up the amount and asked them to chalk out a plan to pay up.

The supreme court had held the Fortis-IHH deal in question and sought clarifications from Fortis over the alleged rushed nature of the deal.

Japanese drug-maker Daiichi Sankyo had moved court seeking to stay the Fortis-IHH deal, over not being able to recover ₹3,500 crore that the Singh brothers owe Daiichi after losing an arbitration over Ranbaxy’s sale.

The brothers had sold their ancestral pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy to Daiichi in 2008. Daiichi discovered massive frauds committed by the Singh brothers and their staff in non-disclosure of certain sensitive data to US Food and Drug Administration and other global agencies, leading to drugs of questionable efficacy being delivered to patients across the world.

In 2013, Daiichi sold Ranbaxy to Sun Pharmaceuticals.

The supreme court will next hear the case on March 16.

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