The auditors, Ravi Bhatia and Pawan Kumar Aggarwal, who were entrusted the task by the apex court to track the trail of diversion of over Rs 2,765 crore of homebuyers' money, told a bench of Justices Arun Mishra and UU Lalit that prima facie it seemed that 200-225 dummy companies were incorporated to route the money. The auditors added that they are unearthing a new such company every day.
They also informed the court that huge amounts of money were transferred overseas and, in one of the cases, Rs 125 crore was given to JP Morgan, Mauritius and there was possibility that it was done without complying with the rules and in violation of FEMA.
However, Amrapali group and the foreign company refuted the allegation and said that the money was paid to the company as part of a loan payment and they are willing to provide full details of the transaction, including bank statements in court.
The auditors further said that Amrapali’s chief financial officer and statutory auditors were hand-in-glove with the company in cheating the homebuyers and they have admitted that companies were incorporated just for the purpose of diverting the funds.
“There is not an iota of doubt that the CFO and the statutory auditors are very much part of the syndicate. They are involved in the entire process. The company had given luxurious car worth Rs 45 lakh to the CFO and the company had also paid income tax return of Rs 2 crore on behalf of CFO,” the auditors said.
They also informed the court that a dummy company named Renuka Computrs was incorporated under the instruction of the CFO and the group transferred Rs 81 crore to that firm.
After hearing the disclosures made by auditors, the bench said that Amrapali’s main business was not construction, but "something else". The CFO and auditors admitted to their actions, but said they were doing so to keep the company afloat.
Noting that the CFO and auditors acted as a conduit for the group to carry out illegal activities, the court granted them a last chance to spill the beans and reveal all information regarding siphoning off funds by the company with detailed information.
It also warned them that the court will have no option but to send them to jail if they withheld any information.
In a stern warning, the court said that they either voluntarily disclose all the secrets of the company or be ready to face an interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate. The court granted them time till November 12 to furnish the information.
In their interim report, the SC-appointed auditors said that the amount received from buyers was always higher than the project cost and liability towards Noida authority for land cost and lease agreement but the company diverted the funds for other purposes which led to financial crunch causing delay in construction.
The auditors filed a report after examining the transaction details of two out of 46 companies of the group — Amrapali Sapphire Developers Private Limited and Amrapali Zodiac Developers Pvt Ltd. It said that Amrapali Sapphire had advanced a sum of Rs 129 crore to the group companies and it had to examine for what purposes the amount was given. The report said that Rs 100 crore of homebuyers' money in the project was invested in shares of Amrapali Infrastructure and Rs 36 crore was given to other companies which is still outstanding.
The report said that CMD Anil Sharma and director Shiv Priya were given Rs 2.41 crore by the company under the garb of professional charges.
from Times of India https://ift.tt/2PvvBvq
