Days after a government-appointed audit is believed to have found revenues of Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications (RCom) to be overstated, accounting regulator ICAI has swung into action and has decided to seek details from department of telecom (DoT) as well as the auditor.
ICAI president Uttam Prakash Aggarwal said he has asked his officials to get information on the entire matter. “Yes, I have sought details and asked my officials to get information from the DoT and the auditor. Only after this, we can have any view on the issue,” Aggarwal said.
He refused to specify by when the regulator would take a final decision on the matter, including any possible action against RCom’s statutory auditors.
The government-appointed auditor Parekh & Company is understood to have revealed that Reliance Communications (RCOM), the flagship mobile connections company of the ADAG, inflated the company’s revenues by Rs 2915 crore in 2007-08 and also evaded licence fee of Rs 315 crore.
When contacted, a spokesperson for RCoM said, “A copy of the report has not been received as yet by RCoM, and nor has DoT at this stage sent any communication in this regard. The special auditor has not even discussed the alleged report/findings with RCOM till date.”
The spokesperson further stated that “There is no irregularity or discrepancy” in RCoM’s audited accounts. “An appropriate response will be provided as and when DoT provides a copy of the report to RCoM and seeks its explanation in that regard.”
