IL&FS to recover Rs 250 crore from employee welfare trust beneficiaries: Report

Getting a refund may be difficult as some of the beneficiaries are dead, while others might have used the money for other purposes, the report added.

Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) has sought to recover Rs 250 crore from its employee welfare trust beneficiaries in a likely first of its kind move on the orders of the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA), The Times of India has reported.

The MCA order followed a report by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), which concluded that the entity was allegedly used to park excess funds or profits and was subsequently used to facilitate payoffs and provide incentives to select employees, the report said.

Some of the alleged “unjust payments” during 2006-07 to a select group of employees by the erstwhile management headed by Ravi Parthasarthy, using the trust route, have been shared by SFIO with the ministry, the report said.

Also Read | NCLT allows IL&FS Transportation Networks to offload shares in an expressway project

The ministry identified 200 beneficiaries of the IL&FS Employee Welfare Trust (IEWT) and sought a refund. These alleged beneficiaries have 90 days to provide the refund, the report said.

IL&FS confirmed the development. “Basis directions from the MCA, the new IL&FS board has approved seeking refund of amounts paid to IEWT members that have been tagged ‘unjust’ by SFIO in their report. Necessary communication has been issued to these members requesting refund of the amounts to IEWT,” an IL&FS Group spokesperson said.

Also Read | IL&FS to finally close its road InvIT; draft papers to be filed with Sebi this week

Getting a refund may be difficult as some of the beneficiaries are dead, while others might have used the money for other purposes, the report added.