Even as the legal battle between Mediaone Global Entertainment Limited and Ad Bureau Advertising Private Limited intensified over a loan taken for the making of the Rajinikanth-starrer Kochadaiiyaan (2014), Mediaone Entertainment has issued a detailed statement clarifying that Latha Rajinikanth is not a party to the memorandum of understanding signed between the two entities and, therefore, has nothing to do with the dispute.
“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," Mediaone said in a statement.
“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 Rs20 crore towards post production work on the film Kochadaiiyaan, starring Rajinikanth. Mrs Rajinikanth is not a party to the said MOU," the statement read.
Mediaone Global Entertainment Limited further explained the terms of the agreement. “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 Rs10 crore out of the Rs20 crore out of the Rs20 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 Rs9.2 crore out of the total loan amount of Rs10 crore in timely payments under the MoU and remains willing to pay the remaining Rs80 lakhs due under the MOU."
However, according to Mediaone Global Entertainment, Ad Bureau Advertising has demanded a sum of unduly Rs14.30 crore. "In further breach of the MoU, Ad Bureau has demanded via letter dated 11.11.2014 that Mediaone pay a sum of Rs10 crore along with the interest of Rs4.30 crore for a period of six months amounting to a rate of interest of 80% 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.”
Mediaone Global Entertainment also claimed that Ad Bureau had launched a smear campaign against them and Latha Rajinikanth.
The firm further claimed that Latha Rajinikanth was neither a shareholder nor a director of Mediaone Global Entertainment and alleged that Ad Bureau was resorting to such actions to “harass and arm-twist Mediaone and Mrs Rajinikanth and thereby extort monies from them.”