Sun Pharma drops to 6-year low on report of another whistleblower complaint

Just weeks after Sun Pharma’s stock was hit by whistleblower allegations of insider trading, a second complaint reportedly filed to Indian regulators sent the drugmaker’s shares tumbling to a new six-year low. A whistleblower alleged in a 172-page complaint that dubious transactions amounting to more than Rs 5,800 crore ($816 million) took place between Sun Pharma distributor Aditya Medisales and Suraksha Realty, a firm controlled by Sun Pharma director Sudhir Valia, the financial news site Moneylife said. Valia is also Sun Pharma helmsman Dilip Shangvhi’s brother-in-law.
The same whistleblower involved in the first complaint also filed these latest allegations to India’s Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). That first complaint accused Sun of insider trading in its acquisition of Ranbaxy, Moneylife reported. In a filing (PDF) to India's stock exchange Friday, Sun said it has not received the complaint, and therefore is “not privy to the contents” and couldn’t comment. That was not all of Sun’s response, though. In a letter (PDF) addressed to SEBI’s chairman, Ajay Tyagi, the Indian drugmaker asked the regulator to look into the case and the role media outlets have played.