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The Securities and Exchange Board of India has managed to enlist the top corporate lawyer Anil Dewan in its campaign against Hindustan Lever Ltd. Hindustan Lever is using the equally renowned threesome of Arun Jaitley, Ashok Desai and Harish Salve.
The Board and the company have been at loggerheads since March, when the Board accused Hindustan Lever, a unit of Unilever Plc, of insider dealing. Two years earlier, Hindustan Lever had bought 800,000 shares in Brooke Bond Lipton India Ltd from the mutual fund Unit Trust of India. A month later Hindustan Lever announced a merger with Brooke Bond Lipton India Ltd. The Board claimed that the company's actions amounted to insider trading.
Hindustan Lever rejects this, insisting that the transaction was entirely legal. The Board ordered the prosecution of the company and compensation of Rs3.04 crore ($717,997) to Unit Trust of India.
Hindustan Lever appealed to the federal government...