New Delhi: Accounting regulator ICAI on Wednesday said it has asked Reliance Communication, which is under attack for alleged fudging of accounts and evasion of licence fee, to provide financial details before it can initiate action against the teleco's auditors.
A special audit is believed to have found that Anil Ambani
group company RCom has overstated revenues to the tune of Rs
2,915 crore in 2007-08 and also evaded payment of Rs 315 crore
in licence fee, a charge dismissed by the company.
"I have asked the ICAI director (Discipline) to gather
information on this matter. We have asked the company
management (RCom), DoT and also the auditor to provide us the
data (financial statement) and we will also approach Registrar
of Companies to provide us with data," Uttam Prakash Agarwal,
ICAI President, said.
"It is only after that we can take any action against the
auditor," he added.
RCom spokesperson had said that "RCom is in full
compliance of licence terms and conditions."
"All revenues for FY'07 and '08 are correctly reported in
RCom's audited account. Alleged comments of special auditor do
not reflect any under-reporting of revenue... licence fees."
The government has appointed special auditors to vet the
books of mobile operators, including Tata Teleservices, Bharti
Airtel, Vodafone and Idea. DoT is awaiting report from them
and may take action after examining these reports.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 20:15