NEW DELHI: After questioning the three auditors of fraud-hit IL&FS, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office is widening the ambit of its probe and is likely to question its former chairman Sunil Mathur and independent director RC Bhargava, and some officials of the State bank of India, in the case.
“The agency has not given a clean chit to anyone at present. We are looking for all the possible connections and the involvement of stakeholders. In this regard we need to question some independent directors and the former chairman of LIC. Last week we questioned some of them, and this week we will continue with the questioning,” a senior official from SFIO said.
According to officials, the directors who are likely to be questioned are Sunil Mathur, former chairman of IL&FS, and RC Bhargava, who is the chairman of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd and had served as an independent director on the IL&FS board.
Former LIC Chairman SB Mathur took over as IL&FS group chairman in September 2018, after Ravi Parthasarathy quit. At that time the company was already reeling under huge debt. He had a plan to monetise assets to pare its debt by up to Rs 30,000 crore over the next 18 months.
Earlier, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance had called for an inquiry into the role of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) in the IL&FS crisis. “The Committee would recommend a comprehensive commission of enquiry into the whole gamut of the (IL&FS) episode,” said M Veerappa Moily, chairman of the panel.
LIC is the largest shareholder in IL&FS, with a 25 per cent stake, and had its representatives on the board. Other lenders include the State Bank of India and Central Bank of India. The SFIO formally recorded the statement of Central Bank of India executives last week and is likely to begin questioning SBI officials.
After the government suspended the board, SB Mathur and four independent directors—RC Bhargava, Michael Pinto, Jaithirth Rao, and Rina Kamath—had written to newly appointed non-executive chairman Uday Kotak, extending their support to the probe.