2023年1月20日

周五，Sebi對Securekloud首席財務官和其他五人處以550萬盧比的罰款，原因是他們涉嫌參與虛假陳述Securekloud技術有限公司(STL)財務報表的欺詐計劃。監管機構對S Ravi Chandran、Dinesh Raja Punniamurthy、Babita Singaram、Swasti Bhowmick、R Thyagrajan(首席財務官)和G Sri Vignesh處以50 - 200萬盧比的罰款。此前，Sebi收到了指控STL發起人和管理層財務不實/違規行為的投訴，以及其審計師德勤(Deloitte)的辭職，其法醫報告援引了包括欺詐在內的各種公司治理問題。隨後，監管機構對該公司2017年4月至2021年3月四個財政年度的事務展開了調查。上述調查的重點主要是調查STL賬目中所謂的虛假陳述方式。During the investigation, Sebi observed that after Deloitte's resignation STL appointed PKF Sridhar to conduct a forensic review of the books.However, Sebi observed that STL stated, it disengaged PKF's services as they did not submitted the report on time.Further, the company appointed another auditor which disagreed with most of the issues reported by Deloitte.Thereafter, Sebi appointed Grant Thornton (GT) to conduct a detailed examination of the books of accounts of the firm and to conduct forensic audit of books of accounts of the company for FY 2017-18, FY 2018-19, FY 2019-20.In its order, Sebi found Chandran being the whole-time director of STL was involved in day to day affairs of the company and thus was duty bound the initiation of forensic audit to exchanges.However, he failed by not disclosing the initiation of forensic audit by Sebi to exchanges and has violated LODR (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) rules.It also noted that the forensic audit report of GT and investigation of Sebi have unearthed a series of serious irregularities and violations in respect of the STL.Despite the irregularities, Bhowmick and Thyagrajan have provided false CEO/CFO certificate in the annual reports of the company for FY2018-19 and 2019-20, thereby violating the disclosure norms, Sebi said.As per the order, Punniamurthy and Singaram being members/chairman of the audit committee since beginning of the investigation, failed to carry out due diligence, acted like an agents of the company and also failed to exercise independent judgment as members of the audit committee of a listed company and thereby violated the norms.Thyagrajan and Vignesh intentionally concealed facts and made misleading statement to Sebi that PKF’s services had been disengaged because it could not submitted the report within the stipulated time, it added.Through such acts, Chandran, Punniamurthy, Singaram, Bhowmick, Thyagrajan and Vignesh flouted the regulatory norms.Last year, Sebi in its order dated December 2022, imposed fines of Rs 10 crore on Securekloud's promoters and directors -- Suresh Venkatachari, RS Ramani and Gurumurthi Jayaraman for misrepresenting the financials of STL.Also, they were prohibited from by the regulator from from being associated as a director or key managerial personnel in a listed company or an intermediary from six months up to one year.