SoftBank internal review gives clean chit to Nikesh Arora

Japanese Internet and telecom conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp has given its president and chief operating officer Nikesh Arora a clean chit on allegations raised by unknown investors represented by a New York law firm after a panel of its independent directors reviewed those complaints.

"As I said when these allegations first became public, I have complete trust in Nikesh and I am pleased that the special committee has looked into these claims thoroughly and concluded they are without merit," SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son said in a statement.

The Tokyo-based company said that the special committee "has concluded that the claims concerning the conduct of Mr. Arora during his tenure at SBG are without merit".

SoftBank said the committee was formed in February and it conducted its review with the assistance of law firms Shearman & Sterling LLP and Anderson Mori & Tomotsune.

A group of unknown investors, represented by Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP, had written to SoftBank in January accusing Arora of "poor business decisions" and "questionable transactions".

The letter demanded an independent investigation into Arora's conduct and questioned SoftBank's investment in Indian e-commerce marketplace Snapdeal and realty portal Housing.com that Arora had led. It questioned the rationale behind Arora's remuneration package, too.

Arora and Son had rejected the charges when the letter first surfaced through a Bloomberg report.

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