ManagementDoT gives Bharti a week to comply with audit queries
As part of its special audit on selected companies, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has told Bharti Airtel to provide all required information to the auditor by December 14.
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Contractor, Nayak & Kishnadwala, the auditor, had sought the information through two questionnaires on August 12 and September 12. The firm had asked for pending details and other information in October and November, but none of the queries had been answered.
“Despite considerable time, complete information has not been provided for any of the requisitions till date…furnish the required information to the auditor within seven days from the receipt of this letter,” the department said in a letter dated December 7. Bharti declined comment.
In April, DoT had ordered a special audit on five companies — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar, Tata Teleservices, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communication — to check alleged mis-reporting of revenue to evade taxes and licence fee.
The audit report of Reliance Communications had already been given to DoT. The government had yesterday said RCom had caused losses of around Rs 250 crore to the exchequer by under-reporting revenues and DoT was examining the issue. However, this charge has been denied by the company. DoT has also written to all four special auditors, saying considerable time has elapsed since the original deadline.
It has told the auditors the report should contain a statement on recovery of dues, wherein the demand by the department may have to be raised on the companies concerned. It also asked them to specify a tentative timeline for their reports.
DoT officials said the department had also sent letters to the other three operators, Vodafone, Idea and Tata Teleservices, asking them to share the information with their auditors on time.