[Assam] [assam] Indian Business leader Praise Insider Trading Defendant Gupta

[bhuban.baruah]

New York Times (May 22, 2012)

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May 22, 2012, 2:29 am
India’s Business Leaders Praise Insider Trading Defendant Gupta
By HEATHER TIMMONS

Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
Rajat Gupta, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Procter & Gamble 
board member, exits the Manhattan Federal Court in New York on 
Monday.Scores of India’s top businessmen have submitted testimonials to 
the Web site Friends of Rajat, dedicated to correcting what it calls “a 
greatly unfair and incorrect caricature of the real Rajat Gupta” 
presented by the press.

Mr. Gupta, a former Goldman Sachs director and head of the consulting 
company McKinsey, stands trial this week on insider trading charges in 
a Manhattan courthouse. He is accused of leaking secrets to Raj 
Rajaratnam, the co-founder of the Galleon Group hedge fund, who was 
sentenced to 11 years in prison this year for insider trading.

While prosecutors call Mr. Gupta the “illegal eyes and ears in the 
boardroom for his friend and business associate,” some of India’s most 
successful businessmen paint a very different picture. Their often very 
personal testimonials highlight how closely knit the Indian business 
community is, particularly when it comes to executives working 
overseas, and how much Mr. Gupta’s success has meant to the community.

Surendra Kaul, a businessman in Denmark, recalls meeting Mr. Gupta in 
the 1980s, when he led Denmark’s McKinsey office. Mr. Kaul remembers 
spending time with Mr. Gupta just before he left Denmark to join 
McKinsey’s board in Chicago: “He said that we Indians are not regarded 
as the ones who can do well in their lives and reach at the top and he 
wants prove that it is possible,” Mr. Kaul writes.

Rana Talwar, the former Standard Chartered head, praises Mr. Gupta’s 
“charisma, leadership qualities and impeccable reputation.”

“In every conversation I have had with him over the years, he was 
always talking about the things he wanted to do for India, for others, 
and never about himself,” billionaire Mukesh Ambani writes. He closes 
by saying, “I respect Rajat for his selfless dedication and humility 
and he will always be a friend of mine.”

The complete list of contributors covers a wide portfolio of Indian 
business and politics, including Godrej chairman Adi Godrej, former 
secretary of the Ministry of Heath Sujatha Rao and DLF chairman K. P. 
Singh. (Somewhat conspicuous in his absence is Tata Group chairman 
Ratan Tata, whose name often is often invoked in India as the gold 
standard of respectability and ethics.)

The Web site does not intend to address the charges against Mr. Gupta, 
only offer testimonials to his character. “We specifically do not 
intend to discuss the legal case against him; he has a strong legal 
defense team and we have faith in the American legal system.”