The
Supreme Court issued a contempt notice against SpiceJet Chairman and Managing
Director (CMD) Ajay Singh on Monday due to his failure to honour the
court-approved payment of dues in the $24 million dispute with Swiss firm
Credit Suisse.
Singh
has been given four weeks to respond to the notice.
On July 25, the apex court granted the airline
additional time to pay its dues to Credit Suisse as part of a court-agreed
settlement between the two parties.
"A settlement agreement had been reached
between SpiceJet and Credit Suisse last year for an amount of $24 million. The
debt, it should be noted, is an old one and predates the current Promoter
taking over the company. The payment of the settlement amount was subject to
RBI approval. SpiceJet could not start the payment as per applicable schedule
under the consent terms for a few months till RBI approval came. Till date,
SpiceJet has paid a total of $7.1 million to Credit Suisse. The shortfall of
$4.4 million pertains to the period when RBI approval was still awaited. The
Company intends to pay this ($4.4 million) and the remaining balance amount as
per the applicable schedule," a SpiceJet spokesperson said.
SpiceJet reported a net profit of Rs 205 crore for
the first quarter of the current financial year (Q1FY24), according to a BSE
filing.
The airline had incurred a net loss of Rs 789 crore
in the same period the previous year.