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Premji makes light of FERA violation case

Fakir Chand in Bangalore

Wipro Chairman and India's richest entrepreneur billionaire Azim Hasham Premji clarified on Wednesday that his company had not wilfully violated any provisions of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act. He hoped the decade-old case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate would be sorted out soon.

After declaring the company's robust financial results for the year ending March 31, 2000, an unfazed Premji said that the company had a strong case, and violations, if any, were only of technical nature and not with respect to the transfer of funds. "As the case is sub-judice, I can't say more," he added.

Responding to media reports on FERA violation case against Wipro Information Technologies Limited, he recalled that it was a ten-year-old case when many infotech companies, which were importing goods, were investigated under FERA routinely. "Half-a-dozen companies, including three MNCs and two Indian companies were charged at that time. I think all them are pending as all such cases take a long time for adjudication," he added.

The ED officials are probing the case filed in 1991. They have confirmed that the company's offices and its top executives' houses were raided in Bangalore as part of the investigations.

The pending FERA violation case turned out to be a stumbling block for nominating Premji on the board of the Reserve Bank of India, a recommendation made by the Union finance ministry. However, Premji said he was not aware of any such official move, and that he had come to know of it only through the media.

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Azim Hasham Premji on the Power of the Mind in the Infotech Era

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