Supreme Court directs Amrapali to disclose names of all companies; file reply by November 12

"We have no iota of doubt that not only promoters, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the internal auditors of the Amrapali Group were part of the syndicate. Prima facie, we have found the relatives of promoters, CFO and internal auditors were directors in these companies, where the money was transferred," Agarwal said.

"Initially, we found 23 companies where transaction had taken place and now we have found eight more companies. We anticipate that there are more than 200-250 such companies, where the money was transferred, but their names have not been disclosed by the Amrapali Group till now," he said.

Supreme Court appointed forensic auditors in the Amrapali case have also informed the apex court that of the 117 computers and systems handed over by the embattled company, as many as 36 are not in working condition and that no passwords had been provided by the company.

Auditors told the court that CFO of the company had been given free cars and an income tax of around Rs 2 crore had also been paid on his behalf by the company. They also said that money had been diverted by the statutory auditors and the CFO to companies in Mauritius and Singapore and invested in other group companies.

It questioned Amarapali Group CFO Chander Wadhwa as to how a group company paid his Income Tax amounting to Rs 2 crore, when he was earning only Rs 50,000 per month.

It asked the CFO to disclose by Thursday the details of the companies he had incorporated, the home buyers money which was transferred to these companies, on whose authorisation the funds were transferred and the benefits he took from the Amrapali Group.  The court warned that if any information given by him was found to be incorrect, he could even be put behind bars.

The Supreme Court has directed Amrapali Group to provide lists of all companies where funds were transferred, including all shell companies, all passwords and details. They have been asked to file the reply by November 12, lawyers present at the hearing said.

When PVVNL pointed out that electricity dues had not yet been paid, the court said that in projects where no associations have been formed, directed that association be formed and dues be paid by residents within 15 days.

When Amrapali directors asked for leave from the hotel in Noida to celebrate Diwali at home, the court said that since they had ruined the Diwali of several homebuyers, they do not have the right to celebrate Diwali. But they have been given permission to meet their lawyers, lawyers present at the hearing said.

The Supreme Court last week grilled the Chief Financial Officer of Amrapali Group and internal auditors of the embattled firm over diversion of homebuyers' money and had ordered that the company’s auditors and its two directors remain under police surveillance at a hotel in Noida.

The bench of Justices Arun Mishra and UU Lalit had questioned CFO Chander Wadhwa who had claimed that he had had a ‘memory failure’ when grilled by forensic auditors. It had also asked the company’s internal auditors Anil Mittal and Ravi Kapoor to hand over all the documents related to the group and had warned them of a jail term for non-compliance.

The Apex Court had also sought details and bank statements of 23 ‘dummy companies’ that the company claimed were created as special purpose vehicles. It has asked the company to hand over all computers and hard drives used by the company since 2008 to the forensic auditors.

Vandana.ramnani@nw18.com