Grant Thornton, a leading global tax and advisory firm, is under the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) scanner for its valuation report of Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) brand, people with direct knowledge of the matter told ET.
The agency is set to file a charge sheet in the case emanating from a complaint by State Bank of India (SBI). The government is seeking Mallya’s extradition from the UK for questioning over allegations of fund diversion and money laundering. Banks are seeking repayments in excess of Rs 9,000 crore over loans made to the defunct airline.
Three top Grant Thornton executives are under the agency’s lens for allegedly submitting a “highly inflated and exaggerated” value of Rs 3,406.30 crore to Kingfisher Airlines, said one of the persons cited above. This report was cited by Mallya when he used KFA’s brand value as collateral against a loan from SBI. In contrast, Brand Finance had valued KFA’s brand at Rs 1,911 crore.
Mallya concealed the Brand Finance report and instead used the “hyperbolic” report of Grant Thornton to induce lenders including SBI, IDBI and other banks to sanction higher loans, said one of the people cited above. Mallya was fully aware the figure was exaggerated, they added.
15/10/18 Raghav Ohri/Economic Times
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The agency is set to file a charge sheet in the case emanating from a complaint by State Bank of India (SBI). The government is seeking Mallya’s extradition from the UK for questioning over allegations of fund diversion and money laundering. Banks are seeking repayments in excess of Rs 9,000 crore over loans made to the defunct airline.
Three top Grant Thornton executives are under the agency’s lens for allegedly submitting a “highly inflated and exaggerated” value of Rs 3,406.30 crore to Kingfisher Airlines, said one of the persons cited above. This report was cited by Mallya when he used KFA’s brand value as collateral against a loan from SBI. In contrast, Brand Finance had valued KFA’s brand at Rs 1,911 crore.
Mallya concealed the Brand Finance report and instead used the “hyperbolic” report of Grant Thornton to induce lenders including SBI, IDBI and other banks to sanction higher loans, said one of the people cited above. Mallya was fully aware the figure was exaggerated, they added.
15/10/18 Raghav Ohri/Economic Times
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