Bloomberg moves Delhi HC against order to remove news report about ZEE's accounting irregularities
ZEE had filed a lawsuit against Bloomberg, arguing that the said article contained false and misleading information about the company's corporate governance and business operations. A Delhi court had passed an ex parte order directing Bloomberg to take down the news report.
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News media organization Bloomberg has moved the Delhi High Court against the order directing it to remove an article alleging that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) found accounting irregularities of nearly US $240 million at Zee Entertainment, Bar And Bench reports.
The report states that Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar mentioned the matter on Wednesday before a Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora for urgent listing. The Court allowed the request and said that the matter will be heard on Thursday (March 7).
The matter pertains to the 'India Regulator Uncovers $241 Million Accounting Issue at Zee' article which was published by Bloomberg on February 21, 2024. The article said that SEBI had “found a hole of more than $240 million in the accounts of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd."
Zee had sued Bloomberg and its journalists Anto Antony, Saikat Das and Preeti Singh. A Delhi court had on March 1 passed an ex parte order directing Bloomberg to take down the news report.
ZEE filed the lawsuit against Bloomberg, arguing that the article contained false and misleading information about the company's corporate governance and business operations. The lawsuit claimed the article was published with malicious intent to harm ZEE's reputation, and resulted in a 15 percent drop in the company's share price, causing significant financial losses to investors.
“The article by Bloomberg, incorrectly published that Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has found a $241 million accounting issue at the Company; whereas there is no such order from the mentioned regulator. Despite the Company firmly refuting the same, the article incorrectly published financial irregularities in ZEE, without the basis of any order from the regulator,” said a media statement from Zee.
