Byju’s founder, after Singapore’s High Court rejected his plea to suspend a six-month jail sentence for contempt of court, effectively preventing him from travelling to the country unless he is prepared to serve the sentence, reported Bloomberg.
The court on July 9 dismissed Raveendran’s application to halt the sentence. was originally handed down in May, although the court had granted a temporary stay last month.
The latest ruling marks another challenge for Raveendran, whose once high-flying edtech company Byju’s, operated by Think & Learn Pvt Ltd, collapsed after a period of rapid expansion and allegations of corporate governance lapses.
The Singapore High Court’s decision means the jail sentence remains in force. However, Raveendran is currently not in Singapore.
His lawyer, J. Michael McNutt of law firm Lazareff Le Bars, said the order has no immediate practical effect unless Raveendran chooses to travel to Singapore.
“In the future, should he be in, or intend to travel to, Singapore, he may appeal then and the court will deal with it,” McNutt said. “The order has no practical effect unless and until he chooses to enter Singapore.”
McNutt also said Raveendran maintains that he did not intentionally violate any court order and would continue pursuing all available legal remedies.
“Mr. Raveendran , intentionally or otherwise, and will continue to pursue every lawful remedy through the proper legal process,” he said.
Raveendran has been facing legal challenges in multiple countries as creditors and investors seek to recover money from the troubled edtech company.
In the United States, lenders are trying to recover losses linked to a defaulted $1.2 billion loan, according to the Bloomberg report.
In Singapore, he is also facing legal action from a subsidiary of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the sovereign wealth fund that invested in Byju’s during one of its funding rounds when the company was cutting jobs.
Following the latest court ruling, QIA said it welcomed the decision and would continue pursuing all legal remedies against Raveendran.