SEBI: Not to change board until the forensic audit completed

 Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the capital market’s regulatory body, directed PTC India Financial Services (PFS) on Tuesday not to make any adjustments to the board of management until the forensic investigation is over. The investigative document is looking into the claims that three independent directors, who collectively left the business in January, made.

Before having its leadership conference in January, PFS was instructed by Sebi to resolve concerns about financial regulation and other matters brought up by its departing independent non-executive directors and chairman. 

On January 19, three independent directors — Thomas Mathew, Santosh B. Nayar, and Kamlesh Shivji Vikamsey – collectively quit the company of PFS, alleging problems with financial regulation and other matters. 

According to a periodical document, “PFS is informed to not modify the structural features of the PFS Board, until the finalization of a detailed investigation by M/s CNK & Associates LLP and submitted of the document by Risk Management Committee (RMC) of PTC India Ltd.” SEBI had earned the corporation clear directions in a previous email May 13, 2022. 

The corporation is encouraged to keep following these particular directives provided by Sebi in this regard, it was said. PFS is a non-banking financing firm incorporated with the RBI and is marketed by PTC India Ltd (PTC) (NBFC). 

Following the resignations, the PTC administration refuted all claims and promised an inside investigation, but they then asked the risk management committee (RMC) to investigate PFS’s corporate governance problems.  

PFS hired chartered accountants CNK & Associates LLP to conduct a third-party independent forensic audit of the issues reported by the independent directors after SEBI reprimanded the firm for not being happy with the measures undertaken study. 

The RBI has designated the structurally significant non-deposit-taking NBFC as an “Infrastructure Finance Company (IFC)”. 

Just after slots remained unfilled for more than two months, PFS recruited 4 independent directors at the end of March on the advice of parent company PTC. On the boards of PTC and PFS, these independent directors are both present.