DHFL shares spurt 11% after auditor report says no fund diversion to shell companies

New Delhi: Shares of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) zoomed 11 percent on Wednesday after a report by a chartered accountancy firm said there are no indications to confirm allegations that the company has created shell companies to divert funds. The scrip jumped 11.04 percent to close at Rs 148.80 on the BSE. During the day, it zoomed 20 percent to Rs 160.80. At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), shares rose sharply by 11 percent to close at Rs 148.75 apiece. The stock reacted positively after a report by a chartered accountancy firm with respect to allegations made against the company by Cobrapost. [caption id=“attachment_6023581” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] On the traded volume front, 53.76 lakh shares were traded on the BSE and over 5 crore shares on the NSE during the day. According to a Cobrapost exposé in January, DHFL through layers of shell companies allegedly siphoned off Rs 31,000 crore out of the total bank loans of Rs 97,000 crore. DHFL had termed the allegation as “mischievous misadventure”. According to the findings by chartered accountancy firm T P Ostwal & Associates LLP, there are no indications to confirm the allegations that the firm has created shell companies to divert funds. “We were unable to find evidence to support the allegations that the promoters have concealed shareholding in the company neither did we find any evidence to support the allegation of insider trading,” the findings by the chartered accountancy firm read in a filing to the BSE by DHFL on Tuesday. The independent CA firm T P Ostwal & Associates LLP had placed its report to the audit committee members at their meeting held on Tuesday. In a report on the examination of allegations by Cobrapost against DHFL, the auditor said, “The company has not promoted any of the alleged 26 “shell” companies that are borrowers. Further, it does not have any directors in common, including members from the promoter group, with any of these alleged “shell” companies.” Further, the company or promoters do not have any shareholding in these entities, nor are these entities shareholders of the company, it said. “Accordingly, there are no indications to confirm the allegations that the company has created shell companies to divert funds,” it added. The findings further said though the company is required to monitor post-disbursal end-use of funds by the borrowers, our examination indicates the monitoring in respect of 15 borrowers (loans amounting to Rs 7,485 crore) is significantly inadequate.