New Delhi: The Grant Thornton audit report on the IL&FS Group has identified various financial irregularities in deals with financial implications of over Rs 13,000 crore.
IL&FS Group, which operates at least 24 direct subsidiaries, 135 indirect subsidiaries, six joint ventures and four associate companies, is sitting on debt of Rs 94,000 crore.
The special audit report has identified 29 instances where it appears that the loans disbursed to borrowers were utilised by their group companies to repay the existing debt obligations with IL&FS Financial Services Limited (IFIN).
These together has a financial implications of Rs 2,502 crore, said the draft report prepared for all high-value transactions undertaken by IL&FS Limited and few of its group companies for the period commencing from April 1, 2013 to September 30, 2018.
The report said there are 18 instances where the commercial operations date (COD) ultimately approved loans to those borrowers who appeared to be in potential stress.
Loans of over Rs 2,400 crore were given in spite of a negative assessment by the Risk team, it said.
The report has indicated 10 major anomalies, grouping together various types of potentially irregular transactions and the sums involved in each deal type. The aggregate sum of these comes to Rs 13,290 crore.
There were several instances where funds worth Rs 541 crore, which were borrowed for short-term purposes, appears to be potentially utilised for long-term purposes.
“We reviewed the Asset Liability Management Committee (ALCO) minutes and noted the details of funding gaps (i.e. funds not available for estimated committed disbursement). Based on the details, it appears that since May 2013, IFIN was under stress to borrow funds in order to fulfill the commitment of loans already sanctioned,” it said.
