SC asks Amrapali CFO to appear for ‘memory test’

NEW DELHI: Irked by ‘selective’ memory loss of the chief financial officer about Amrapali Group’s financial transactions, the Supreme court on Wednesday ordered him to undergo a “memory test” before it on Friday.

The court’s order for his personal appearance came after the SC-appointed auditors said the CFO, Chander Wadhwa, was not cooperating with the ongoing probe under the pretext of loss of memory.

Auditors Ravi Bhatia and Pawan Kumar Aggarwal, who are conducting forensic audit of 46 companies of Amrapali group to track diversion of home-buyers’ money, told a bench of Justices Arun Mishra and U U Lalit that Wadhwa was dodging all their queries on fund transactions under the ‘pretext’ of memory loss.

“The CFO claims to have lost his memory and he said he did not even know when he joined the group. He also claims that he is not the CFO but all other staff of the company confirmed to us that he is the CFO of the group. He remembers everything about his personal life, family and marriage but claimed to be knowing nothing about the company,” the auditors told the bench.

Advocate M L Lahoty, appearing for the homebuyers, said the CFO’s counsel should be present in the court during every hearing to keep watch on the proceedings and the court should ask him to respond.

Wadhwa’s lawyer told the bench that he was co-operating with the auditors. “You have no other option but to co-operate. Does he remember his name? The auditors are extension of the court and all must co-operate with them,” the bench told him.

SC directed the CFO to personally appear before it on October 26 and said in a lighter vein that he would have to undergo memory test on that day.

At the end of the proceedings, senior advocate Vikas Singh appeared for the CFO to defend him but the bench refused to modify its order on his personal presence and told him, “Keep your memory in tact for Friday.”

The auditors informed SC that most of the documents of Amrapali’s 46 companies have been put in systematic form and they would now start examining them to track diversion of funds. “Seventy five people worked for the last 12 days for managing the voluminous documents and the task will be completed within two days. But we have not been given the documents on material costing of each projects which would reveal how much the company had invested in construction. No break-up is available and it will make our task difficult,” the auditors said.