Latest news with #1993
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Health
- Irish Times
It wasn't just the decapitated turtles that made those Chinese women run so fast. So what were they on?
As with most seismic episodes in life, I can recall exactly where we were and what we were doing. As international students in the Ivy League, there was no fear of deportation to rattle our worlds in September 1993. But the news that a woman on the other side of the world had just run eight minutes and six seconds for 3,000 metres was shocking. This was among the legion of world records broken by Chinese women at the 1993 Beijing National Games, where six women ran under previous world records in three different events a total of 14 times, wrapped up by the 8:06.11 clocked by Wang Junxia to win the 3,000 metres. It seemed quite simply inconceivable, and the passing of time has only reinforced that notion. We were in our senior year, close to our running prime, and Wang's 8:06.11 was faster than any of us had run on the men's track team, international or otherwise. There was nothing whatsoever sexist or chauvinistic in being dismayed, only the crushing realisation our times were paling into insignificance. I didn't have my ear to the ground so much in those days and the news had come via a weekly call home, as all news usually did, my dad coming on the phone and dispensing with any pleasantries. 'You will not believe this,' he said. The women's 1,500 metre, 3,000 metre and 10,000 metre world records had all been utterly obliterated in Beijing, with a crazy series of times that in no way added up. READ MORE I didn't imagine I'd be writing about them 32 years later. Wang's 3,000 metre time still stands as the world record, for years untouchable. Kenya's Beatrice Chebet, the double Olympic champion from Paris last summer, got closest when she ran 8:11.56 in the Diamond League in Rabat last Sunday. Still more than five seconds off Wang's mark. Maybe we shouldn't have been shocked. After all, we'd already had ample warning of what the Chinese women were capable of. A month before, at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart, they pulled off what is now considered one of the great daylight robberies in the long history of track and field – and inextricably entangled with the career of our own Sonia O'Sullivan . In one of her last races before Stuttgart, O'Sullivan clocked 8:30.12 to win the 3,000 metres at the Zurich Golden League, the fastest time in Europe, making her one of the gold medal favourites. At that point in time, little was known about the nine Chinese women runners in Stuttgart, all entered in the 1,500 metres, 3,000 metres and 10,000 metres, and all coached by Ma Junren, who had set up several high-altitude training camps in remote locations around China. Junren had no athletics background, smoked 40 cigarettes a day and admitted losing up to 10 per cent of his athletes through injury. He kept his women distance runners in strict regimental tow, promptly earning them the title Ma's Army. Despite their complete lack of global championship experience, they won all three medals in the 3,000 metres in Stuttgart, led home by Qu Yunxia, relegating O'Sullivan to fourth. [ Sex, drugs and alcohol: Excuses never far away when it comes to doping offences Opens in new window ] Six days later, O'Sullivan did manage to break the Chinese dominance in the 1,500 metres, winning silver behind Liu Dong. Earlier in the week, Wang won the 10,000 metres, meaning the Chinese women claimed six out of a possible nine medals in the three running events they entered. This was only a prelude to what was to come in Beijing a month later. Wang broke three world records, first lowering the 10,000 metre mark to 29:31.78, smashing the 30:17.74 which had stood to Norway's lngrid Kristiansen since 1986. Wang then ran a 3,000 metre world record of 8:12.19 in the heats, before improving that to 8:06.11 in the final. Yunxia also built on her Stuttgart success to break the 1,500 metre world record, running 3:50.46. The previous records there had stood to Tatyana Kazankina from the former Soviet Union, whose career ended abruptly in 1984 when she was suspended for 18 months for refusing to do a drugs test. God knows what kind of anti-doping programme was in place in Beijing in 1993 but none of Ma's Army ever failed a test. Yunxia's 1,500 metre record stood for 22 years, and Wang's 10,000 metre record for 23 years. Junren always put their success down to their marathon-a-day training, plus his own range of Chinese potions, including the warm blood of a freshly decapitated turtle. The following summer, O'Sullivan improved her Irish 3,000 metre record to 8:21.64 at Crystal Palace in London, the fastest time ever run outside of China, and which stood as the European record for eight years. After winning the 5,000 metres at the 1995 World Championships in Helsinki, O'Sullivan pushed herself harder again when preparing for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, possibly too hard. Wang won gold in the 5,000 metres, and silver in the 10,000 metres. [ World Anti-Doping Agency faces crisis after US government withholds funding Opens in new window ] According to Chinese state media reports, released in February 2016, all nine of Ma's Army in Stuttgart were forced to take 'large doses of illegal drugs over the years'. A letter, signed by Wang and her eight team-mates in 1995, also detailed the regime of state-sponsored doping. In October 2017 there was further evidence , former Chinese team doctor Xue Yinxian telling German broadcaster ARD that all medals won by Chinese athletes in the 1980s and 1990s should be handed back, given they were 'showered in doping'. Maybe it is too late now for those medals to be returned, or for those record times to be erased, but one question remains: what on earth were they taking? They'd clearly discovered some unique concoction of banned substances to be that far ahead of everyone else in 1993, including us poor and innocent hopefuls in the Ivy League.
Daily Mail
28-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
The Coca-Cola flop you've probably never heard of! Soda giant launched another drink in 1993 with unusual message - but it didn't last long
Coca-Cola launched another 'slightly spicy' soda in 1993 but no one's ever heard of the brand because it was quietly discontinued just two years later. Coca-Cola is so deeply embedded in human consciousness that it is often cited as the second-most recognised words in the world - just after the universally understood 'OK.' According to some studies and brand historians, the name Coca-Cola is understood by 94 per cent of the world's population. However, in a bold Noughties experiment, the soda giant tried to recreate its success and launched OK Soda in a bid to own both of the world's most recognised terms - but it didn't go to plan. Launched in 1993, OK Soda wasn't your typical sugary drink as Coca-Cola crafted it with one target in mind, the Gen X teen (or those people born between the late 1960s and the early '80s) Generation X were often described as independent, self-reliant, skeptical and disillusioned with the status quo, so Coca-Cola wanted to try something new to appeal to their tastes. The idea was to be anti-marketing to an audience that hated being marketed to. Unsurprisingly, however, the audience saw right through what was essentially still advertising and the brand never took off. OK Soda's cans were designed to look deliberately strange; they came in muted grayscale tones and featured drawings by legendary alt cartoonists Charles Burns and Daniel Clowes. Clowes later said he used cult leader and serial killer Charles Manson's face as a model for one of his designs. The grey cans featured cryptic, existential slogans like 'Everything is going to be OK' and 'Don't be fooled into thinking there has to be a reason for everything'. Even the hotline printed on the cans (1-800-I-FEEL-OK) delivered absurd recorded messages rather than actual customer service. OK Soda's flavor was equally underwhelming as it was described as 'slightly spicy' and likened to a combination of orange soda and flat Coca-Cola. When they were looking to introduce a new beverage, Coca-Cola's special projects manager Brian Lanahan told Time Magazine that they chose the name 'OK' because it didn't sensationalise the product. It was supposed to be the marketing world's greatest reverse psychology triumph, but it was a flop. OK Soda never made it past the test markets, after launching in about a dozen US cities, and sales were lukewarm at best. By 1995, two years after its debut, OK Soda was quietly pulled from shelves and officially discontinued. Launched in 1993, OK Soda wasn't your typical sugary drink as Coca-Cola crafted it with one target in mind, the Gen X teen (people born from the late 1960s to the early '80s) Since then, the drink has become a case study in marketing classes around the world of how authenticity can't be engineered. While OK Soda failed to resonate with consumers, Coca-Cola continues to stand as one of the most iconic and globally recognised brands in history. A key driver of Coca-Cola's success is its ability to continually evolve its marketing campaigns and advertising strategies to stay relevant across generations. The very first print advertisement for Coca-Cola was launched in the United States back in 1905,with actress Hilda Clark sipping the fizzy black drink from a tea cup. The advertisement, which resembled a postage stamp of sorts with its floral design and portrait style, marketed the now global soft drink for just five cents. It is in stark contrast to the bold and colourful footage used to market the soft drink's famous curved bottle on television, social media and in magazines in 2015 where a 600ml bottle of drink can set consumers back a minimum of $3.50. Coca-Cola advertising was launched in Australia in 1943 and among one of the first marketing posters was artist Haddon Sundblom's 'Yes Girl' pin-up, which remains a hallmark in design today. The poster features a smiling woman sitting down in her vintage swimwear as a man passes her a bottle of Coca-Cola. The changing face of the soft drink advertising sheds light on just how much social attitudes, trends and fashion have shifted in the past eight decades. Coca-Cola targeted women in the 1950s with slogans like 'refresh yourself while shopping' and 'take some home for the family'. They were pictured lazing on the beach, typing on typewriters and pushing shopping trolleys in their 1950s-style dresses while they sipped from the soft drink bottles. The 70s drew on simple advertising with slogans like 'things go better with coke' and the 1980s often relied on sports to showcase the brand. The iconic Coca-Cola bottle, which was first sold back in 1938 from a factory in Sydney, is marking its 100 anniversary this year. It was designed in 1915 for a mere $500 with manufacturers being told to create something that could be recognised by touch alone and could be identified when shattered on the ground. The bottle has become steeped in pop culture history having been the muse for artists and designers like Andy Warhol, Dolce & Gabbana and Uniqlo.
SBS Australia
27-05-2025
- Health
- SBS Australia
Abducted at 5, Rose was presumed missing. 14 years later, she walked into Centrelink
Rose (not her real name) vanished in 1993 when she was five. Her disappearance spurred a federal police search that never managed to find her. Source: SBS / Caroline Huang This article contains references to child abuse. One winter's day in 1993, Rose (not her real name) recalls her mother throwing a few belongings in a bag, carrying her down the stairs and racing to the Nissan Bluebird parked outside their house. "She's got this resolve and this look in her eyes. I'm in the front seat unbuckled, she's just shoved me in the car," Rose told The Feed. "We are driving out of our street — and we can see him coming in the opposite direction." Rose remembers her father, red-faced and angry, driving a different vehicle. She alleges he swerved in front of their car, trying to block them from leaving, narrowly avoiding a collision. "I thought I was going to have a heart attack. My heart was bumping in my mouth, and I was just absolutely petrified," Rose said. "My mum's just going through red lights and he's following us. And then, finally, we lost him." That's how Rose was abducted by her mother at five years old. They sold the Bluebird, had one last goodbye call with Rose's grandmother, and assumed new identities. For the next 14 years, Rose would spend a very unusual childhood living as a missing person. It still haunts her to this day. "I didn't know what was true and what was false, and I spent more time with her, and I had to live in her reality to survive," she said. "It was a lot of isolation, a lot of coercion, manipulation — very cult-like." Parental abduction — also known as parental child abduction — is when one parent takes or keeps a child without the other parent's consent. Family lawyer Gabriella Pomare from The Norton Law Group in Sydney said she's seeing more and more parental abduction cases, including parents taking children interstate or even overseas. "This is a significant issue, particularly when parents are in breach of court orders and where a parent is seeking to disrupt a child's relationship with their other parent by removing them," Pomare said. "I just finished a trial last week in a matter where this occurred and the children were returned to Australia." Rose's parents had split up before the abduction, with her mother becoming her primary carer. But Rose said her mother always resented her father being given visitation rights by the Family Court, and painted him as an incompetent parent. "My mum said that when they were living together, he was a real deadbeat dad, a hoarder, and couldn't hold down a job, and so she was really struggling as a new mother," Rose said. Rose's mother maintained she left the relationship after allegedly finding child pornography material hidden in his office. Rose suspects this was a lie, but she can neither confirm nor deny it. Not satisfied with the amount of time he spent with Rose, her father would secretly visit her at school. Rose believes her mother started hatching a plan to go missing after finding out. "My mum was like, 'I'm going to go to jail for this, but I've got to save you … he's a bad person'." After the pair disappeared, newspaper reports from the time said federal police issued a warrant for her mother's arrest and Rose's return. Despite an extensive investigation, the police never found them. Rose's father made efforts to find her over the years, making several appeals in the media. Pomare said: "Where a child is abducted interstate, the [Family] Court is able to make recovery orders for the return of the child, often with the assistance of the AFP (Australian Federal Police)." If taken overseas, the child can be returned via the Hague Convention, an international agreement that protects children from abduction. Although parental abduction is a crime, it can be justified in some situations. "A parent may have a legitimate defence if they abduct the child to protect them from immediate harm, such as domestic violence," Pomare said. "Acting in self-defence or to protect the child's safety can also be considered a valid defence." Growing up as a missing person, Rose remembers living in share houses strictly paid for in cash, and a drawer at home filled with wigs and disguises. "We were pretty skint and also had no Medicare card, no access to healthcare, no access to bank accounts," she said. Her mother had a fake driver's licence and birth certificates made. Rose was only allowed to play in the park at night to avoid being seen. Rose said she lived in constant terror of being caught by the police. "The police are going to come and they're going to throw me in a children's home. And my mum told me a lot about how bad children's homes were and how bad the women's prison would be for her." Rose changed schools at least once a year, and due to the constant moving, found it impossible to make friends. Occasionally, they would pack up their car and start a new life in a different state. Growing up as a missing person, Rose remembers living in share houses strictly paid for in cash, and a drawer at home filled with wigs and disguises. Her world shrank to one person: her mother. "I was deeply attached to my mother, but also terrified of her," Rose said. "The way my mum reacted, if I ever questioned anything or was in any way insubordinate or didn't buy into her reality, the consequences were so dire that it was life-threatening. "She would scream and shout and berate and go off the handle and be in a frenzied mania of anger, and it would be relentless hours and hours and hours of it … there was no one else for me to turn to." Rose said her mother was not physically abusive, but would punish her by pretending Rose didn't exist for days on end. At other times, she would act erratically. "The lady who wouldn't give her a refund at the dress shop, she rotten-egged her house and collected my poo to throw at her house," Rose said. "She decided that one of the kids at my school, she just really, really hated him. She got me up in the middle of the night and was like, 'We are going to go and f- - - [his] house up'. "We drove up there and she put prawn heads in the letterbox … and we drew pentacles [a five-pointed star often associated with witchcraft] on the bitumen outside of his house." Looking back, Rose said it was clear her mother desperately needed mental health support. The lady who wouldn't give her a refund at the dress shop, she rotten-egged her house and collected my poo to throw at her house. Rose "Her depression was really intense and very lonely for me, because I knew she needed help and I couldn't reach out to anyone," she said. "I was very afraid of misspeaking at school and getting caught in our big lie and outing her." It's hard to track the number of parental abductions that happen in Australia — but they make up a tiny proportion of people who go missing. The AFP says a missing person is defined as anyone who is reported missing to police, whose whereabouts are unknown, and there are genuine fears for their safety or concerns for their welfare. Sarah Wayland, a professor of social work and missing persons researcher at CQUniversity, said parental abductions are sometimes viewed differently to other missing persons cases. "A lot of people say, 'Well, at least they're with one of the parents, and they're probably fine'," she said. "It can be almost like a double type of loss … because their child is missing to them, but the rest of the community says, 'Well, it's not that bad a loss'." "In the early 2000s … there were 15,000 reports made each year in Australia … so it's a pretty significant increase," Wayland said. While there's no solid data on why there are more missing persons cases, Wayland said it intersects with trends around mental health, family dysfunction, cost of living and homelessness. "I think the distress factor probably plays into the increase of numbers of people going missing," she said. "In the last five years we've lived through COVID, significant climate change, there's a lot of political instability around the world. I think that people are struggling, and I think sometimes that going missing is the only solution for some people to disconnect from life for a while." Two-thirds of people who go missing are under 18, as they try to assert their independence. Wayland said other groups at risk include young adults who are experiencing significant mental health crises, as well as people living with Alzheimer's disease or dementia who wander off. It's rare for someone to go missing forever — over 99 per cent of people who go missing are located, per the AFP. If someone is missing for more than three months, they're classified as a long-term missing person — currently, there are more than 2,500 in Australia. Wayland said it's rarer still for someone for be found alive and well after going missing long-term — they're usually either found deceased, or their family never finds out what happened to them. "That person being located and then having to re-enter life … we actually don't really know enough about those circumstances, about how to support the person," Wayland said. "How do you connect the dots with the parts of life that you might've missed out on, and what it might be like to come back again?" Shortly after becoming an adult, Rose walked into a Centrelink office and told staff she was a missing person — to much less fanfare than she'd been expecting. "I was like, 'Yeah, I'm a missing person, and I've been missing for 14 years, and I really need help'," she said. "Just like Centrelink, they never break their blank expression there, they didn't give a damn. I really thought after all of this ordeal, the saga, that it would've been a much bigger deal." Despite her mother's fears, it was frustrations like not being able to get into a club or go to the doctor that undid Rose's resolve to live as a missing person for life. "I just couldn't keep being a missing person. I really, really tried, and I just couldn't. I dreamed of having the opportunity to go overseas or drive a car or just have a bank account," she said. "I was celebrating for days for having a bank account … I just really was revelling and belonging in society again, it meant so much to me." It took years for Rose to rebuild her identity. She's now 37, and expects the psychological impact of her childhood will affect her for years to come. "There is a real sense of having missed out on growing up like everyone else my age … I … grew up in this cult-like isolated environment," she said. "I missed out on having friends from childhood, and I missed out on growing up in a family, and I missed out on having a place that is where I'm from." Rose's relationship with her mother became strained after she stopped being missing. The two had on-and-off contact, until her mother died a few years ago. After all those years of absence, Rose eventually got hold of her father's phone number and called him — "He basically fell off his chair, of course!" "I went to his house and he showed me this huge bookshelf, and it was just crammed with photo albums … they were all pictures of me … up to four, I think he documented every laugh, smile, every bath, every experience," she said. "He never gave up, he never stopped looking and he never had any other children. And it was his great grief of his life that he didn't get to know or raise his daughter." Rose and her father kept in touch for six months, but don't have a relationship today. "It was difficult after all that time being indoctrinated to hate him and to believe that he was a really bad person, I just couldn't switch that off," she said. "I think it's just too painful to think about. It's too emotionally sensitive, and I know it's not fair for him, but I am not in a place where I could deal with that." Wayland said it can be difficult for families to make up for all that lost time. "It's not just about reconnecting with the relationship, but the person who's older, what they've been through, all of the milestones that you might've missed, if there's been births or deaths or marriages in the family," she said. For those who never see their missing loved ones again, it can be difficult to move on from the grief. "It's an unresolved loss where there was no goodbye … it almost acts as an open wound for a long period of time," Wayland said. Rose doesn't want you to think this is a story about mothers being the "bad guy". "My mum was mentally ill and really needed support." Readers seeking support can ring Lifeline crisis support on 13 11 14 or text 0477 13 11 14, Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467 and Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 (for young people aged 5 to 25). More information is available at and Anyone seeking information or support relating to sexual abuse can contact Bravehearts on 1800 272 831 or Blue Knot on 1300 657 380. More information about missing persons is available on the National Missing Persons Coordination Centre website: Watch now
Mint
21-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
IREDA approaches DRT Delhi to recover about ₹729 cr from Gensol Engineering, its arm
New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) State-owned Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency on Wednesday said it has approached the Debt Recovery Tribunal Delhi to recover about ₹ 729 crore from Gensol Engineering and Gensol EV Lease Pvt Ltd. Earlier, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) had filed a bankruptcy application against beleaguered Gensol Engineering as well as its electric vehicle leasing unit Gensol EV Lease Ltd. In an exchange filing, IREDA stated that it has filed an "original application under Section 19 of The Recovery of Debts and Bankruptcy Act, 1993 before Debt Recovery Tribunal Delhi on May 20, 2025 for a default amount of ₹ 510,00,52,672 and Rs. 218.95 crore against Gensol Engineering Ltd and Gensol EV Lease Pvt Ltd respectively". The agency on May 14 filed an application under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, against Gensol Engineering Limited for the default amount of ₹ 510 crore. It also filed a bankruptcy application on May 15 against Gensol EV Lease Ltd, a subsidiary of Gensol Engineering Ltd, for a default of ₹ 218.95 crore. Last month, in an interim order, Sebi barred Gensol Engineering and promoters -- Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi -- from the securities markets till further orders in a fund diversion and governance lapses case. On May 12, Jaggi brothers resigned from the company following market regulator Sebi's interim order, according to an exchange filing. Anmol Singh Jaggi held the post of Managing Director while Puneet Singh Jaggi was a Whole-time Director. In its order on April 15, 2025, the Sebi debarred Jaggi brothers from holding the position of a director or key managerial personnel in Gensol until further orders. The order came after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) received a complaint in June 2024 relating to the manipulation of share price and diversion of funds from GEL and thereafter started examining the matter. In the 29-page order, Sebi had said, "The prima facie findings have shown mis-utilisation and diversion of funds of the company (GEL) in a fraudulent manner by its promoter directors, Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi, who are also the direct beneficiaries of the diverted funds". Gensol Engineering's promoters treated the listed company as a proprietary firm, diverting corporate funds to buy a high-end apartment in The Camellias, DLF Gurgaon, splurging on a luxury golf set, paying off credit cards, and transferring money to close relatives, Sebi said in its interim order. "The company has attempted to mislead Sebi, the CRAs (credit rating agencies), the lenders and the investors by submitting forged conduct letters purportedly issued by its lenders," the regulator had said. The noticees 1, 2 and 3 (GEL, Anmol and Puneet Singh Jaggi) are alleged to have violated the provisions of PFUTP (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices) rules, it had added. Sebi had noted that the promoters were running a listed public company as if it were a proprietary firm. GEL's funds were routed to related parties and used for unconnected expenses as if the company's funds were promoters' piggy banks. According to the regulator, the company secured a total of ₹ 977.75 crore in loans, of which ₹ 663.89 crore was meant specifically for the purchase of 6,400 electric vehicles (EVs). EVs were procured by the company and subsequently leased to BluSmart, a related party. The result of these transactions would mean that the diversions at some time need to be written off from Gensol's books, ultimately resulting in losses to the investors of the company. The internal controls at Gensol appear to be loose, and through the quick layering of transactions, funds have seamlessly flowed to multiple related entities/individuals, the regulator had said.
Mint
21-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
IREDA approaches DRT Delhi to recover about ₹729 cr from Gensol Engineering, its arm
New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) State-owned Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency on Wednesday said it has approached the Debt Recovery Tribunal Delhi to recover about ₹ 729 crore from Gensol Engineering and Gensol EV Lease Pvt Ltd. Earlier, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) had filed a bankruptcy application against beleaguered Gensol Engineering as well as its electric vehicle leasing unit Gensol EV Lease Ltd. In an exchange filing, IREDA stated that it has filed an "original application under Section 19 of The Recovery of Debts and Bankruptcy Act, 1993 before Debt Recovery Tribunal Delhi on May 20, 2025 for a default amount of ₹ 510,00,52,672 and Rs. 218.95 crore against Gensol Engineering Ltd and Gensol EV Lease Pvt Ltd respectively". The agency on May 14 filed an application under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, against Gensol Engineering Limited for the default amount of ₹ 510 crore. It also filed a bankruptcy application on May 15 against Gensol EV Lease Ltd, a subsidiary of Gensol Engineering Ltd, for a default of ₹ 218.95 crore. Last month, in an interim order, Sebi barred Gensol Engineering and promoters -- Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi -- from the securities markets till further orders in a fund diversion and governance lapses case. On May 12, Jaggi brothers resigned from the company following market regulator Sebi's interim order, according to an exchange filing. Anmol Singh Jaggi held the post of Managing Director while Puneet Singh Jaggi was a Whole-time Director. In its order on April 15, 2025, the Sebi debarred Jaggi brothers from holding the position of a director or key managerial personnel in Gensol until further orders. The order came after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) received a complaint in June 2024 relating to the manipulation of share price and diversion of funds from GEL and thereafter started examining the matter. In the 29-page order, Sebi had said, "The prima facie findings have shown mis-utilisation and diversion of funds of the company (GEL) in a fraudulent manner by its promoter directors, Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi, who are also the direct beneficiaries of the diverted funds". Gensol Engineering's promoters treated the listed company as a proprietary firm, diverting corporate funds to buy a high-end apartment in The Camellias, DLF Gurgaon, splurging on a luxury golf set, paying off credit cards, and transferring money to close relatives, Sebi said in its interim order. "The company has attempted to mislead Sebi, the CRAs (credit rating agencies), the lenders and the investors by submitting forged conduct letters purportedly issued by its lenders," the regulator had said. The noticees 1, 2 and 3 (GEL, Anmol and Puneet Singh Jaggi) are alleged to have violated the provisions of PFUTP (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices) rules, it had added. Sebi had noted that the promoters were running a listed public company as if it were a proprietary firm. GEL's funds were routed to related parties and used for unconnected expenses as if the company's funds were promoters' piggy banks. According to the regulator, the company secured a total of ₹ 977.75 crore in loans, of which ₹ 663.89 crore was meant specifically for the purchase of 6,400 electric vehicles (EVs). EVs were procured by the company and subsequently leased to BluSmart, a related party. The result of these transactions would mean that the diversions at some time need to be written off from Gensol's books, ultimately resulting in losses to the investors of the company. The internal controls at Gensol appear to be loose, and through the quick layering of transactions, funds have seamlessly flowed to multiple related entities/individuals, the regulator had said. It had also directed the firm to appoint a forensic auditor to examine the books of accounts of Gensol and its related parties.
