Reliance Jio Infocomm moved the bankruptcy court against Reliance Communications tower unit, Reliance Infratel as per ET Telecom. This was done to seek disclosures of the forensic audit reports of the tower company whose accounts were called fraudulent by some lenders.
In a virtual hearing, Vikram Nankani, representing Jio stated that they wanted a copy of the forensic audit report that was disclosed to them to assess how it could impact the resolution plan.
Back in December, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Mumbai bench had allowed Jio’s resolution plan to take place which would pick up the tower and fiber assets held by RCom for under INR 4000 Crores which would have gone to the lenders.
What do we need to Know?
Before all this took place, SBI, Union Bank of India, and Indian Overseas Bank clarified accounts of the bankrupt telco as well as units as fraudulent. these units included Reliance Telecom and Reliance Infratel. the allegations came a year post a forensic audit that led to the reveal of transactions of INR 5,500 Crores in the three Anil Ambani-led Reliance group entities.
The probe focusing on the transactions between May 2017 and March 2018 found three large entities that were hidden under hundreds or thousands of others that, as per the SBI lenders group suspects could conceal fund diversion.
On Thursday, Jio via its Reliance Project and property management services sought the audit details from Reliance Jio Infratel’s committee of creditors or CoC consisting of SBI, Union Bank, and Indian Overseas Bank. In the application, the telco told NCLT that it wanted to see the audit reports to know why the accounts were called fraudulent.
Nankani also stated that, as it appeared that the forensic audit report was available with the Banks back on the 15th October 2020. So, on the day on which their lordships approved the plan, which was 3rd December 2020, this report was available with the banks. They didn’t disclose the same, and neither with their Lordships, which in all fairness and transparency should have been done by them.
This development could further delay the lender’s bid to make recoveries from the bankrupt telecom Infra company which according to legal experts is the only one among the three whose resolution plan had been finalized by the NCLT.