Dhoni Paid Rs 37 Crore To Endorse Amrapali: Rhiti Tells SC

Rhiti Sports told the Supreme Court that it had paid former Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni Rs 37 crore through cheque for various brand endorsement activities. Dhoni was the brand ambassador for the Amrapali Group.

In December 2019, the Supreme Court had agreed to hear a plea by homebuyers who had purchased homes from the Amrapali Group to pass a direction to recover Rs 42.22 crore paid by the Amrapali Group to Dhoni as endorsement fee. Rhiti Sports had managed the former India captain's endorsement contracts.

Advocate for homebuyers contended before a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra, comprising Justice U U Lalit, that Rs 42.2 crore is yet to be recovered from Rhiti Sports.

The Supreme Court in its judgement had directed the recovery of that money from the sports management company. Rhiti Sports had filed a plea on the same in the court.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Rhiti Sports, contended before the Supreme Court that the company is a sports management company and engages various cricketers and other public figures and the players endorsed the brand when they play.

“I have paid Dhoni everything by cheque. The amount is Rs 37 crore,” Rohatgi said. Based on this submission, the Supreme Court directed the homebuyers' counsel to file its reply. The Supreme Court is likely to take a decision on this matter on the next date of hearing on February 17.

It may be recalled that in its July 23, 2019 judgment, the Supreme Court had concluded that Amrapali had diverted Rs 42.22 crore of money deposited by homebuyers to clear the bills of its then brand ambassador Dhoni.

Kumar Mihir, one of the advocates representing homebuyers, stated that the amount was paid to Rhiti Sports, a company which managed the advertisement engagements of the cricketer.

The Supreme Court is yet to pass any direction on this matter, although it had already ruled that all directors and officials of Amrapali and other group companies involved in the matter should deposit the diverted funds without fail before the court.

The auditors observed, during 2009 to 2015, the company Amrapali Sapphire Developers Private Limited paid Rs 6.52 crore out of Rs 42.22 crore from the Amrapali group of companies to Rhiti Sports Management Private Limited.

Mihir also cited the July 23, 2019 judgment and stated that forensic auditors had found that Amrapali and Rhiti Sports had made these dubious agreements as well as deployed a dubious channel to divert the money to this company. He said that the Supreme Court had already accepted these findings in the matter.

The auditors' report said that the agreement signed between the two parties helped the Amrapali group to market its brand through company logos at various places in IPL 2015 for Chennai Super Kings. The report also said that this agreement was not made official but the deal was executed between the Amrapali Group and Rhiti Sports, without any signatories representing Chennai Super Kings.

The auditor’s report said that the agreements were executed by Anil Kumar Sharma, CMD, as a representative of the Amrapali Group. But, there was no resolution on record, which authorized the CMD to enter into agreements as a representative authority of all Amrapali Group companies.