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Zee 'amputates' itself to get rid of 'corrupt' executives

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Bombay

Senior Zee TV officials were sacked last night on charges of "corruption and bribery".

The officials are: vice-president (programming) Vishnu Patel, general managers Ajit Gupta (commercial) and Rajesh Mishra (legal), and head of corporate finance Gopal Maliwal.

Patel was also responsible for the Zee Cine Awards, presented last Sunday in Bombay.

The dismissals were sparked by allegations by some producers that the officials were involved in bribery.

Aarti Salgaonkar, senior manager (corporate communications), Zee Network, said, "This is part of a process of instituting purity within the organisation. The basic tenets of the Essel Group are transparency, integrity and honesty. To uphold this value system, we had to ask some of our very senior colleagues to leave the organisation even though they played a very useful role in the past."

A third general manager, Mithali Thadani (events), resigned. But she denied any connection with the corruption charges. "My name was not involved in [the] corruption [charges]. I had resigned much earlier, but continued to work to keep my commitment to the Zee Cine Awards function," she clarified.

Zee TV officials conceded that Thadani had put in her papers before the dismissals.

An internal memorandum issued by Zee president Vijay Jindal stated that the decision was taken for corporate rejuvenation and to institute purity.

''Just as a human body has to go through numerous phases of healing, curing and even amputation, similarly organisations too have to undergo a continuous churning process, retaining the good and expelling the evil,'' Jindal said in the memo.

The note went on to add that when a part of the body is virus-infected, one has to cut it off to protect the body.

Jindal said transparency, integrity and honesty are founding pillars of the Zee family. ''We have taken the decision bearing the pain of amputation."

Vishnu Patel said an individual cannot fight against companies. "They don't have proof against me. Neither have they spoken to me about it. Group chairman Subhash Chandra asked me to quit as there were corruption charges against my team. So I quit."

Asked if he sought clarifications, Patel retorted, "Why should I? I know I'm honest. Moreover, once I've been charged with corruption, I don't see any reason in continuing."

He said the sudden action had hurt him a great deal because he had played a role in building up the organisation.

This is not the first time top-level changes at Zee have stirred a controversy. Soon after Jindal's elevation as president of the Zee Network, there was a major shake-up of senior managers. Popular chat-show host Rajat Sharma's exit also was a controversial chapter.

Analysts said the latest episode is bound to add to the excitement of the Hindi satellite channel wars. Zee continues to be the only profit-making channel. Close on its heels is challenger Sony Entertainment Television. For the first half of 1998-99, Zee Telefilms Limited posted a net profit of Rs186.7 million, up 43 per cent from the corresponding period last year.

An insider in Zee, who did not want to be identified, alleged that the sacked officials had the power to select programmes for airing on the network. There were many complaints, the source said, that quality software was spiked for inscrutable reasons.

But Patel said, "The Zee TV requirement is only two to three serials in a month. And there are nearly 20-25 producers approaching us. So people are bound to be upset if I say that their serials are not up to the mark. You see, that is my job risk and I had to take it."

An aside: Zee spokesperson Salgaonkar stated that a couple of programmes that were cleared recently are up for review.

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