ICAI seeks details of RCom's books to nail auditor

Accounting regulator ICAI today said it has asked Reliance Communications (RCom), which is under attack for alleged fudging of accounts and evasion of licence fee, to provide financial details before it can initiate action against the teleco's auditors.    

A special audit is believed to have found that Anil Ambani group company RCom has overstated revenues to the tune of Rs 2,915 crore in 2007-08 and also evaded payment of Rs 315 crore in licence fee, a charge dismissed by the company.    

"I have asked the ICAI director (Discipline) to gather information on this matter. We have asked the company management (RCom), DoT and also the auditor to provide us the data (financial statement) and we will also approach Registrar of Companies to provide us with data," Uttam Prakash Agarwal, ICAI President, said.    

"It is only after that we can take any action against the auditor," he added.    

RCom spokesperson had said that "RCom is in full compliance of licence terms and conditions".

"All revenues for FY07 and FY08 are correctly reported in RCom's audited account. Alleged comments of special auditor do not reflect any under-reporting of revenue... Licence fees."    

The government has appointed special auditors to vet the books of mobile operators, including Tata Teleservices, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea. DoT is awaiting report from them and may take action after examining these reports.