'Ismail Darbar's claim is preposterous'

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences may not be pressing defamation charges against musician Ismail Darbar for his allegations that AR Rahman bought the Oscar for his work in Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire”, but in an email statement, the organisation finally took on the musician and rubbished his claims, calling his charges “preposterous”.
The statement, sent by Teni Melidonian, publicist of the Academy Awards, reads, “We are not familiar with Ismail Darbar or with the evidence, if any has been offered, on which he is basing his assertion that AR Rahman received his Academy Awards through bribery of “Academy officials”.When we first became aware of the charge last week we regarded it as too ludicrous to require an official comment.
The statement further reads, “For the record, voting for the Academy Awards is conducted under such stringently controlled conditions that it would simply not be possible for an “Academy official,” even if he or she were inclined to do so, to set aside the vote of the artistes who make up the organization’s membership. Mr Darbar is evidently not aware that the ballots for both music categories are handled and processed directly by the offices of PricewaterhouseCoopers. The envelopes containing the winning achievements are prepared by two executives of that firm and never leave their custody until they are opened onstage in full view of the world. It is not unusual for an individual to express the view that Academy members selected the wrong recipient for a particular award, but to charge that a win was achieved by underhanded means is unprecedented and preposterous.”