Latha Rajinikanth is neither a shareholder nor director, says Mediaone

MediaOne Global Entertainment Limited, which is in the midst of an intense legal battle with Ad Bureau Advertising Private Limited over a loan it took for the making of the Rajinikanth-starrer Kochadaiyaan, has claimed that Latha Rajinikanth is not a party to the Memorandum of Understanding between the two entities and therefore has nothing to do with the dispute.

In a detailed statement, Mediaone said, “There has been many incorrect and unsubstantiated reports in the media touching the disputes that have arisen between Mediaone Global Entertainment Limited and Mrs Latha Rajinikanth on the one hand and Ad-bureau Advertising Pvt Ltd on the other.

“The disputes have arisen out of a MOU concluded between Mediaone and Ad-Bureau under which Ad-Bureau undertook to grant Mediaone a loan of Rs 20 crore towards post production work on the film Kochadaiiyaan, starring Rajinikanth. Mrs Rajinikanth is not a party to the said MOU.

“Under the MOU, Ad Bureau was given full distribution rights for the film in Tamil Nadu along with minimum guaranteed profit in return for the loan amount. However, only Rs 10 crore out of the Rs 20 crore out of the Rs 20 crore stipulated under the MOU was advanced by Ad Bureau. As a result, the release of Kochadaiiyaan was delayed by several weeks. Nevertheless, till date, Mediaone has repaid Rs 9.2 crore out of the total loan amount of Rs 10 crore in timely payments under the MOU and remains willing to pay the remaining Rs 80 lakhs due under the MOU.

“However, in further breach of the MOU, Ad Bureau has demanded via letter dated 11.11.2014 that Mediaone pay a sum of Rs 10 crore along with the interest of Rs 4.30 crore for a period of six months amounting to a rate of interest of 80 per cent per annum. Such a demand is not only unsupported by the terms of the MOU but is also in contravention of Tamil Nadu state law against prohibition of collecting exorbitant interest which is a penal offence and a criminal complaint was given to commissioner of police and an FIR has been filed. It is still under investigation.”

Alleging that Ad-Bureau had launched a smear campaign against them and Latha Rajinikanth, Media One further claimed that Latha Rajinikanth was neither a shareholder nor a director of Mediaone Global Entertainment Limited. They said Ad Bureau was resorting to such actions to harass and arm-twist Mediaone and Mrs Rajinikanth and thereby extort monies from them.