SEBI asks CG Power to provide audit findings on fraud to ousted chairman Gautam Thapar, others

New Delhi: Capital market regulator SEBI has asked fraud-hit CG Power & Industrial Solutions to provide its ousted chairman Gautam Thapar and others information they had sought on audit findings of financial irregularities in the company during their tenure. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), which had in September debarred Thapar, CG Power’s CFO and two other directors from accessing the capital market for their alleged involvement in dubious transactions, on 25 November asked the company to provide the information by 4 December. “The competent authority has directed that the information as available with the company and which has been requested (by Thapar and other directors) be provided as per their specific requests on or before 4 December 2019,” the SEBI order said. It also asked the company to provide e-mail correspondence referred in the auditor’s report that brought out the alleged financial irregularities at CG Power under Thapar, be also provided by 4 December. [caption id=“attachment_4307425” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] SEBI in its order to CG Power’s company secretary Shikha Kapadia stated that the next date of hearing that was scheduled for 6 December has been postponed. CG Power in August had stated that an investigation instituted by its board had found major governance and financial lapses, including some assets being provided as collateral and the money from the loans siphoned off by “identified company personnel, both current and past, including certain non-executive directors.” Also, some liabilities and advances to related and unrelated parties had been understated. The fraud runs into over Rs 3,000 crore. Thapar, who was in the following sacked as Chairman, had sought the audit report and the related documents. SEBI had previously directed the BSE to appoint an independent auditor for conducting a detailed forensic audit of the books of accounts of CG Power from 2015-16 onwards.