Cafe Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha's emotional last letter to staff before going missing: 'I have failed'

Cafe Coffee Day owner VG Siddhartha has been missing since travelling to Mangaluru on Monday night, following which a search operation has been launched. In the context of the question marks over his whereabouts, a letter signed by him on July 27 to his company staff has been accessed in which he has said that he has failed as an entrepreneur and asked his staff to forgive him. 

"My intention was never to cheat or mislead anybody, I have failed as an entrepreneur. This is my sincere submission, I hope someday you will understand, forgive and pardon me," he wrote in the letter which has been accessed by Republic. 

He said that he fought for a long time, but gave up as he could not take the pressure from his private equity partners. 

"I would like to say I have given it my all. I am very sorry to let down all the people that put their trust in me. I fought for a long time but today I have given up as I could not take any more pressure from one of the private equity partners forcing me to buy back shares, a transaction I had partially completed six months ago by borrowing a large sum of money from a friend," the CCD owner added. 

READ | Cafe Coffee Day Founder VG Siddhartha Goes Missing, Search Operation Underway

VG Siddhartha also spoke about facing harassment from the previous DG income tax over the Mindtree deal, saying that it led to a serious liquidity crunch.

"There was a lot of harassment from the previous DG income tax in the form of attaching our shares on two separate occasions to block our Mindtree deal and then taken possession of our Coffee Day shares, although the revised returns have been filed by us. This was very unfair and has led to a serious liquidity crunch," the letter further read. 

Here is the full letter:

To our Board of directors and Coffee Day family, 

After 37 years, with strong commitment to hard work, having directly created 30,000 jobs in technology company where I have been a large shareholder since its founding. I have failed to create the right profitable business model despite my best efforts. 

I would like to say I have given it my all. I am very sorry to let down all the people that put their trust in me. I fought for a long time but today I have given up as I could not take any more pressure from one of the private equity partners forcing me to buy back shares, a transaction I had partially completed six months ago by borrowing a large sum of money from a friend. Tremendous pressure from other lenders lead to me succumbing to the situation. There was a lot of harassment from the previous DG income tax in the form of attaching our shares on two separate occasions to block our Mindtree deal and then taken possession of our Coffee Day shares, although the revised returns have been filed by us. This was very unfair and has led to a serious liquidity crunch.

I sincerely request each of you to be strong and to continue running these businesses with a new management. I am solely responsible for all mistakes. Every financial transaction is my responsibility. My team, auditors and senior management and totally unaware of all my transactions. The law should hold me and only me accountable, as I have withheld this information from everybody including my family.

My intention was never to cheat or mislead anybody. I have failed as an entrepreneur. This is my sincere submission. I hope someday you will understand, forgive and pardon me. 

I have enclosed a list of our assets and tentative value of each asset. As seen below our assets outweigh our liabilities and can help repay everybody.

CCD Founder missing

Siddhartha is the son-in-law of former Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna and was last seen nea ther Netravati River in Mangalore. His driver said that he was taking Siddhartha to Mangalore where on the way he got down near a bridge and did not return. In a panic, the driver filed a missing person complaint with the police. Meanwhile, the Police Commissioner has informed that search operation is underway and dog squad is being used for the job. Apart from founding the largest coffee chain, Siddhartha is also the founder of hospitality chain which runs a seven-star resort Serai and Cicada.

READ | Cafe Coffee Day Founder VG Siddhartha Missing, Driver Who He Travelled With Last Recounts What Happened