Amrapali paid up to 30% of flat cost as commission to agents: Audit

NEW DELHI: In a startling revelation, the Supreme Court-appointed forensic auditors told the court that the Amrapali group used to pay exorbitant commission of up to 30% of flat cost to various marketing agents and companies to sell the flats while crores of home-buyers’ money was diverted by the promoters and directors for personal gain.

In a voluminous report, auditors Pawan Kumar Aggarwal and Ravi Bhatia, who were given the task to conduct forensic audit of 46 registered companies of the group and other shell companies set up by the company, said over Rs 25 crore of home-buyers’ money was used by top officials of the company to invest in LIC, mutual funds and shares. The report said CMD of Amrapali group Anil Sharma had transferred around Rs 11 crore to his various family members over the years.

Appearing before a bench of Justices Arun Mishra and U U Lalit, Aggarwal told the court that he was also examining the role of other “very important persons” who were beneficiaries of diversion of home-buyers’ money by the Amrapali group but said they were not co-operating with him. He said in some cases 30 percent of flat cost was paid as commission to agents and told the court that he will file a supplementary report after examining the others.

The report said various marketing agents such as investor clinic which has got flats in lieu of commissions and other vendors who have got flats for barter should be asked to surrender the flats which should be sold to recover the funds. Referring to the report, counsel for home-buyers M L Lahoty told the court that money siphoned off by the company officials should be recovered by taking away their personal assets. He said there are 11 projects of Amrapali which could be completed with the money raised from selling unsold units and by getting the dues from home-buyers.

The forensic report mentions documentary evidence which show that funds were transferred to more than 100 shell companies outside the Amrapali group through dubious transactions. The bench, after examining the report, said the case had been pending for more than a year and posted it for April 30 for final hearing. It asked the auditors to file their supplementary report before the next hearing.