Private sector lender HDFC Bank has cleared itself of ethical concerns raised by former chairman Atanu Chakraborty after an independent legal review by two external law firms found no evidence to support the latter’s claims that the lender’s internal practices conflicted with his personal values and ethics.
The three-month review concluded that board records, internal documents and witness interviews did not substantiate Chakraborty’s resignation letter or subsequent public statements.
“The contemporaneous evidence reviewed was inconsistent with Chakraborty’s statement, and external law firms’ review did not identify any basis for the statement,” the bank said in a filing on Friday.
Responding to the findings, Chakraborty reportedly said on Saturday that the exercise was “superfluous” and that he declined to participate because the bank had refused to disclose the review’s terms of reference or the legal basis for commissioning it. The sudden exit in March had triggered a swift four-day selloff in the bank’s stocks, wiping out roughly ₹1.35 lakh crore in shareholder wealth, casting a spotlight on corporate governance.
