NEW DELHI: A day after the government superseded the board of debt-ridden IL&FS, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) sprung to action on Tuesday searching the premises of the company and questioning its top executives.
Among those questioned are ousted Vice Chairman and Managing Director Hari Sankaran and joint MD and Chief Executive Officer Arun Saha who were asked about the board’s role in the ‘financial mismanagement’. According to sources, more agencies may join the probe in the coming days..
According company sources, a team of SFIO officials swarmed into its landmark building in Mumbai and took charge of the ninth floor which houses the top management, taking control of the server to ensure that no documents would be destroyed.
After few hours of search, they collected many documents and pen drives, and also questioned its top management who were present in the building, including ousted Vice Chairman and Managing Director Hari Sankaran and Arun Saha, the joint MD and Chief Executive Officer.
According to the sources on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the probe will also include the directors and top management, which were appointed or have left or had been sacked in last one year.
“We are looking at all the angles. All appointments, contracts, especially the international one are being probed. We will question the auditors and the financial officers of all the group companies. Also the siphoning of funds to overseas is being examined. If required we may take help of other agencies,” a senior official told TNIE.
The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has already requested ICAI for hiring more Chartered Accountants for the probe.
Late on Monday evening, lookout notices have been put out at airports to prevent the top brass, including former vice-chairman Hari Sankaran, former managing director of IL&FS Financial Services Ramesh Bawa, and director K Ramchand, by issuing a lookout notice for them at the airports. Ravi Parthsarthy, the former chairman, has already left country and is in London for medical treatment.
The official sources claimed that in the coming days few more executives will come under scanner.
On Monday, the government said that the board members and management rather than exposing the mess, put a lid on the mess and kept on misguiding investors and the regulators.
Ravi Parthasarathy resigned in July, while Bawa, non-executive director Vibhav Kapoor, and four independent directors of IL&FS Financial Services resigned after a default last month.
Meanwhile, five former independent directors, including former Chairman SB Mathurand independent directors RC Bhargava, Michael Pinto, Jaithirth Rao and Rina Kamath has written to newly appointed non executive chairman Uday Kotak extending all their support.