"Fake narratives, part of a malicious media campaign": BYJU's founder Raveendran on being labelled 'fugitive'
Dubai [UAE], May 17 (ANI): Byju Raveendran, the founder and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of embattled ed-tech company BYJU's has denied the allegations of being a 'fugitive,' attributing these claims to a 'fake narrative' and a 'malicious media campaign,' adding that these narratives were created to take control of the company.
In an exclusive interview with ANI, Raveendran accused US-based 'lenders' of tarnishing the company's reputation which led to the downfall of all stakeholders and investors. He further alleged that they tried to create 'prejudice' in the Indian courts for calling Raveendran and his brother 'fugitive.'
'These are narratives which they have created in trying to take control of the company. Unfortunately, in a company which is built on the founders' name, or where the founder played an important role in the early years, they miss the fact that if you tarnish the founders name, it'll have a huge impact in the company's valuation. Even they overplayed that game to such an extent that has hurt everyone, all stakeholders, investors, including themselves. That's a game played wrong and by a few vulture lenders who were based out of US. This is exactly what was created, used to create prejudice in Indian courts by calling us fugitives, by calling me and my brother is having lookout notices,' Raveendran told ANI.
Raveendran has publicly acknowledged the company's dramatic decline and vowed to rebuild, despite facing lawsuits, financial turmoil, and investor disputes. Byju's, once valued at $22 billion, has experienced a significant decline due to financial problems, regulatory issues, and legal battles.
The BYJU's founder also spoke about the investigations conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) saying that the inquiry was around the company and there was nothing personal in it.
He said, 'Now, we were freely traveling to India as and when required, keeping Dubai as a base for international expansion. These are all wrong narratives or fake narratives. There is no truth in this. The only truth here is the fact that there was an ED enquiry which was around the company, nothing personal over there. That investigation is closed and it's adjudication stage.'
Speaking on the lookout notices issued by the ED against him, Raveendran attributed it to the 'wrong media narratives' implying that ED never makes such things public because that 'defeats' the purpose.
He further pointed out that there was never a chargesheet or a Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) case against him rather there were only summons to which he cooperated.
'I have been traveling to India like even after the ED inquiry started. First of all, if ED puts out a lookout notice, they will never make that public because that defeats the purpose. It's a wrong media narrative around the ED investigation, it was never personal. It was on the think and learn transactions, which was other than a few misses on the filing timelines, there was never a PMLA. There was never a charge sheet. There were summons, I went and met, we cooperated. Investigation is closed. So, the whole narrative was blown out of proportion,' the BYJU's founder said.
Further clarifying the allegations of being declared a 'fugitive,' Raveendran stated that this was just a part of a 'malicious media campaign,' as this word was used just 'verbally' and didn't had any mention in the official documents.
He said, 'Our entire wealth, entire company was built out of India. All our wealth which we created was made in India, taxes were paid in India, invested back in India. We have nothing outside India. This is created by a few vested interests. If you see this fugitive word, they only use verbally. None of the filings, none of the court filings, none of the affidavits, you will never find any of this. This is just part of a malicious media campaign. None of the documents will have this word.' (ANI)
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