Monica Houston Waesch
FRANKFURT--Porsche Automobil Holding SE (PAH3.XE) said Thursday
allegations in a criminal proceeding against Porsche officials in
India are groundless.
"The allegations in the criminal proceeding in which the Court
in Jaipur, India has issued the bailable warrants are, in the view
of Porsche, baseless and without any material substance," Porsche
said in a statement.
The warrants were issued in November by a magistrate in the west
Indian city of Jaipur after a petition was filed by Ashish Chordia,
who owns Shreyans Group of New Delhi. Shreyans and another company
in the group, Precision Cars, imported Porsche cars to sell in
India from 2003 until early 2012, according to Mr. Chordia.
The warrants against nine senior executives, including six board
members, accuse the Porsche officials of cheating, intimidation and
criminal conspiracy against its former Indian distributor. Mr.
Chordia filed the petition in June, a month after Porsche named
Volkswagen Group Sales India Pvt. Ltd., the Indian unit of
Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE), as its official importer into India.
Volkswagen Group comprises 12 car brands, including Porsche, Audi,
Skoda, Bentley and Bugatti.
Porsche said Thursday the case is based on a "purely civil
dispute" brought to court by a former importer of Porsche cars
following the ordinary cancellation of the importer contract.
"The filing of criminal proceeding is an afterthought and just
an attempt by the former importer to open a new--in the view of
Porsche's local lawyers--inherently frivolous proceeding against
Porsche," Porsche said.
Porsche is taking steps to have both the warrants and criminal
proceedings quashed, it added.
"Porsche's lawyers are confident to be able to demonstrate that
the complaint is completely frivolous," the company said.
Santanu Choudhury in New Delhi contributed to this article.
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