Kishore Biyani moves Bombay High Court challenging forensic audit report which alleged fraud in Future Retail accounts

The founder of the Future Group, Kishore Biyani, has approached the Bombay High Court challenging the forensic audit process and report on the accounts of the Future Retail Ltd. (FRL) company.

The report was filed by a forensic auditor, BDO India LLP, appointed by the Bank of India (BoI) which had advanced money to FRL. The report had alleged that certain fraudulent transactions were carried out by FRL.

Biyani's petition before the High Court, filed through Naik Naik & Co, was taken up on Tuesday by Justices SB Shukre and Firdosh Pooniwalla for urgent relief.

Biyani sought directions from Court against coercive action.

The lawyer appearing for BDO India informed the Court that the report they had released was only an interim report and that the final report was yet to be released.

In view of this statement, the Court directed BoI (the lender bank) not to proceed with any action against Biyani in furtherance of the report till the next date of hearing.

The plea will be heard again after 4 weeks.

Earlier, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) at Mumbai had admitted a petition filed by BoI and initiated insolvency proceedings against the FRL in July 2022.

BoI claimed that FRL had defaulted on the one-time restructuring scheme provided by the bank, which involved an amount of about ₹3,495 crores.

A resolution professional, Vijaykumar V Iyer, had also been appointed as the resolution professional (RP) to manage the affairs of the company.

Simultaneously, the Bank of India appointed BDO India as a forensic auditor to conduct an audit into the accounts of FRL, invoking the provision of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Master Circular on Classification and Reporting of Fraud by Commercial Banks and select Financial Institutions.

The bank reasoned that FRL had availed credit facilities which became non-performing assets on January 2022.

A report was received in August 2023, which classified certain transactions as fraudulent.

BoI then sought responses from the resolution professional and the promoters of FRL, including Biyani, on the contents of the report.

Biyani in turn approached the High Court against the report, claiming that report was based on insufficient and unverified data and conjectures.

He apprehended that grave consequences would follow if other lenders were permitted to reply on the report.

He prayed that the report be produced along with all material relied upon while preparing the report.

He also sought an order permanently restraining BoI and BDO from taking any steps in furtherance of the report.

Biyani also urged the Court to quash the report.

Biyani was represented by Advocates Ameet Naik and Madhu Gadodia from Naik Naik & Co.