Material present to belie Tata’s assertions: Mistry’s office

Mumbai, June 5 (IANS) The Office of Cyrus Mistry on Monday said a wealth of material already placed before a corporate tribunal belies Ratan Tata's assertion that the Tata Sons' former Chairman was removed due to conflict of interest, poor governance and a tendency to concentrate control.

The development comes a day after Tata in an interview to The Hindu daily said that conflict of interest had led to Mistry's removal in October last year.

Tata's assertion comes a month before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal is to hear an appeal from orders of the National Company Law Tribunal on the case pertaining to the removal of Mistry as Tata Sons' Chairman.

According to Mistry's office, Tata's statement was "another attempt to obfuscate the truth, mis-inform and build a twisted public narrative on vital facts that are central to ongoing legal proceedings and sub-judice".

"A wealth of material placed on record before the Hon'ble Tribunal... would clearly belie Mr. Tata's assertions of being removed from interference in Tata Sons' affairs, and his vague statements on 'poor governance', 'conflict of interest' and 'tendency to concentrate control' attributed to Mr. Mistry," a statement from Mistry's office said.

"The facts on record clearly show that apart from the governance challenges that were posed by interference with business decisions, Mr. Tata's perceived fear of his legacy being unravelled and Mr. Mistry's actions to correct the failure of ethics and mismanagement at the Tata Group were at the core of the illegal coup."

On October 24 last year, Tata Sons' Board ousted Mistry as its Chairman.