An Indian court on Thursday remanded the head of spirits giant Pernod Ricard’s country unit and the director of local drugmaker Aurobindo Pharma Ltd for a week as part of an investigation into the Delhi government’s liquor policy. The court’s decision came hours after P. Sarath Chandra Reddy of Aurobindo Pharma and Benoy Babu of Pernod Ricard were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the country’s federal anti-financial crime agency.
The ED last month raided several liquor companies, suppliers and distributors as part of its money laundering probe, according to media reports. The investigating agency claimed in court that Babu played a role in maintaining the liquor scam and was in possession of government excise documents much before they were made public. Babu’s lawyer countered that he had not shared the document with anyone and had received it as a WhatsApp forwarder.
Babu is the CEO of Pernod Ricard and, according to his LinkedIn profile, manages the French company’s international brand business in India. Spokesmen for Pernod Ricard and Aurobindo did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Reddy’s arrest is unrelated to the operations of Aurobindo or its subsidiaries, the company said in a separate filing earlier on Thursday.
Shares of Aurobindo, which makes a range of drugs from antibacterials to antidepressants, ended the day down 11.75%. Reddy, a business administration graduate, is part of the promoter group of the company, which has manufacturing facilities in the United States, Brazil and Portugal, according to the company’s website. Media reports said Reddy and Babu were arrested in connection with an ED investigation into alleged irregularities in the now-defunct Delhi government’s liquor policy.
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