A day after Fortis Healthcare promoters Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh stepped down from the directorship of the company, reports said on Friday that they took at least Rs 500 crore ($78 million) out of Fortis Healthcare without the board’s approval a year ago. According to a Bloomberg report, its auditor Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP refused to sign on the company’s second-quarter results till the funds were accounted for or returned.
In a clarification to the stock exchanges, Fortis said it had given out Rs 473 crore as loan to various other businesses, which later became part of the group. Repayment is underway, it added.
Fortis also categorically denied reports that the auditors refused to sign. “The results for the Q2 could not be tabled before the board for approval and the same was communicated to the stock exchanges on November 14, 2017,” it said.
The company added that the audit review process for the results of both Q2 and Q3 are in progress and will be presented before the board on February 13. On Thursday, the Singh brothers had resigned following a Delhi High Court order upholding the Rs 3,500 crore arbitral award in favour of Japanese pharma giant Daiichi Sankyo. The matter is related to the acquisition of Ranbaxy Lab by Daiichi Sankyo where the Singh brothers alleged concealed information about proceedings against them by the US Food and Drug Administration.
