420 and all that

Fresenius Kabi Oncology's appeal on Monday against the Securities and Exchange Board of India directive to buy back more shares in order to delist from the exchanges had its share of wit and repartee. The arguments continued for Kabi for some time with multiple references to voluminous documents. At one point, the lawyer for the company asked the tribunal to turn to page 420. Before reading out the relevant extract, he paused for a disclaimer. "The page number, my lord, is entirely coincidental," he told the judge. That was, of course, a joking reference to the unique euphemism for fraudery in India derived from the infamous Section 420 of the criminal procedure code. The number 17 also came up more than once during Fresenius' arguments in the Securities Appellate Tribunal, prompting one member to jokingly remark that the company seemed to rely on the figure quite a bit. The company's lawyer said that the number may bring them luck. From the other side came the quip, "Thankfully, today is the 19th."