IL&FS Auditors Have Many Questions To Answer, Says Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas

The IL&FS Group auditors have “many questions to answer” prima facie as they are supposed to act as “gatekeepers” and detect widespread irregularities, a senior government official has said.

“We are not expecting an auditor to detect a needle in a haystack, but if an elephant is in a room they ought to find it. That is the issue,” Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas told PTI in an interview.

Crisis-hit Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Group’s debt burden is estimated to be more than Rs 94,000 crore and various entities, including some former officials and auditors, are under the scanner for widespread irregularities and huge loan defaults.

The problems came to light last year after some group companies defaulted on loan repayments resulting in concerns about overall impact on the financial system. Subsequently, the corporate affairs ministry superseded the board and a probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office is in progress.

While Srinivas did not name any particular auditor, reports have suggested that global auditing giant Deloitte and BSR & Associates, part of KPMG network, are among the entities under scanner allegedly for failing to flag loans that were granted in violation of norms by various IL&FS entities.

The case is being investigated by multiple agencies, though the auditors who have worked on various accounts associated with the group have been denying any lapses on their part.

Emphasising that auditors are often referred to as “gatekeepers”, Srinivas said the statutory auditor plays a key role in auditing the financial statements of a company.

“If auditors work diligently, then auditing standards and accounting standards are capable enough to detect any widespread irregularity,” he noted.

In response to a query about the role of auditors at IL&FS, Srinivas also said that some arguments that a statutory audit is not a forensic audit and these auditors are not investigators are not acceptable.

According to him, if it is a one-off fraud, then it can be accepted that the fraud might not get easily detected.

“Where there are widespread irregularities bordering on fraud, then it is very difficult for any auditor to say that I did not see it at all or I believed the management’s version,” Srinivas said.