The three-month governance storm at HDFC Bank took yet another turn on Saturday, with former Chairman Atanu Chakraborty dismissing the legal review report as a ‘compliance exercise’ and questioning its legal basis. He also termed the legal review a ‘superfluous’ exercise.
The independent legal review commissioned by the bank’s board had cleared the lender of any wrongdoing on the ground that the ‘contemporaneous evidence’ was “inconsistent with Chakra-borty’s statement”.
Chakraborty’s response on Saturday, however, was to reject the process itself rather than engage with its findings. He termed the review a ‘compliance exercise’, and stated that he did not feel the need for external validation of his position. Crucially, both HDFC Bank and the external law firms said they had repeatedly requested that Chakraborty speak with them as part of the legal review, but the interview ultimately did not occur.
Chakraborty, however, told Fortune India he had “specifically asked the legal firms for the scope and legal basis for such a review. They did not provide me the details, which is why I did not speak to them.”
For now, the governance chapter is formally closed on the bank’s terms. Whether Chakraborty’s decision to stay silent through the review — and vocal after it — leaves larger questions unanswered is a matter the market will judge for itself.