Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) on Thursday said that the non-banking financial company (NBFC) has “taken cognisance of the key observations of the draft deport prepared by KPMG”. KPMG was appointed by Union Bank of India, the lead banker of the consortium of lenders to the NBFC, to conduct a forensic audit on the company’s financial affairs.
The board on Wednesday directed the company to review the key observations of the KPMG report and present detailed responses to these observations before an audit committee. The company has also been directed to share these responses with the DHFL’s lenders. “We are not aware of the source of the above articles,” the company said.
The company said this in an exchange filing in response to a clarification sought on reports that DHFL had lent around Rs 14,000 crore to 25 group entities. The NBFC has been in the eye of a storm, with its offices being raided by investigative agencies in a case concerning criminal Iqbal Mirchi. On Monday, the company had said the Enforcement Directorate had questioned its senior officials.
DHFL had earlier said it had, in the normal course of business, funded projects of various companies in and around Mumbai, but never directly to Sunblink, a realty firm with alleged links to Mirchi. “The dues of Rs 2,186 crore comprise the principal amount and the interest payable on the principal sum. On account of certain corporate actions undertaken with/by Sunblink, as on date, Sunblink is mentioned as a borrower. The amounts were never lent to Sunblink as alleged in the media,” DHFL had stated.
The company on Wednesday said “there have been several media reports and articles during the last couple of weeks carrying absolutely speculative, unsubstantiated and wild allegations and several rumours… (which) have been aimed to create panic in the market”, the company said.
DHFL started defaulting on payment obligations in June 2019. The total liabilities stood at Rs 83,873 crore as on July 6.