The government-appointed auditor Parakh & Co, which conducted a special audit on the books of Reliance Communications (RCom) has for the second time sought the government’s help in what it calls being victimised for conducting its duty in a professional manner. The audit firm has written to the department of telecommunications alleging harassment at the hands of RCom and sought its intervention for rescuing its from the clutches of RCom. It has also sought DoT’s advice whether it should tender the materials pertaining to audit to the anti-extortion cell of Mumbai police which is examining the case on a complaint by RCom.
The firm had first written a similar letter on October 1, last year alleging that RCom was intimidating it and had been making false and baseless accusations against the auditor at various forum and authorities.
The auditor had examined the books of Reliance Communications at the behest of the DoT and in 2009 had found that the telecom company had under-reported revenues in 2006-07 and 2007-08, causing losses to the exchequer.
Ever since the report came, RCom has launched a tirade saying that the audit report was a part of the malicious campaign to hurt the telco and batter its stocks.
Apprising the DoT of the latest developments, the auditor has said that owing to the criminal case filed by RCom against it, two officers of the anti-extortion cell of the Mumbai police visited its office and asked the company to furnish all documents pertaining to its investigation of RCom’s books. In a letter written to the DoT secretary R Chandrasekhar on January 31, Vishnu Dutt Mantri, partner Parakh & Co has said, ?We would like to inform that two officers from the anti extortion crime cell visited our office on January 29, 2011 for investigation and asked to furnish record and information, for which we have sought your permission vide our earlier letter dated October 1, 2010.?
It has further said, ?Please protect our firm and our professionals from the coercive claws of the Reliance Communication, in respect of the above mentioned actions and any further apprehended action or misuse of its dominant position or muscle power; as we are only professing our duty as independent auditors.?
Till the time of going to the press, RCom had not replied to a query by FE on the auditor’s letter. The audit report which was submitted to the DoT in 2009, had explained that RCom had failed to show revenue of Rs 2,799.19 crore, causing losses of Rs 315 crore to the government in terms of licence and spectrum fees.