Grant Thornton valued the brand at Rs 4,100 crore when the airline was facing turbulence.
The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) will investigate Grant Thornton, a leading independent accounting and consulting firm that valued Kingfisher brand at Rs 4,100 crore.
SFIO sources said they would interrogate Grant Thornton officials involved in the valuation process in a couple of days.
They have raised concerns over the huge valuation on a beer brand that was used for an airline. A senior SFIO official said that Kingfisher is indeed a good brand among beers, but not in airlines. "How could the valuer use one segment valuation for another segment when the company was facing tough times," he asked.
Grant Thornton valuation report came at that time when the company was facing a cash crunch and a previous loan was about to become a non-performing asset (NPA).
SFIO is investigating whether Kingfisher itself inflated the brand value while giving to agencies and banks. Clearly, this valuation report helped Kingfisher manage the another tranche of bank loan.
SFIO officials said they were keen to understand how Grant Thornton came to a Rs 4,100 crore figure after its valuation exercise.
When contacted, Grant Thornton did not respond.
SFIO is also investigating former Board of directors and independent directors, and their role.
The investigating agency has already finished one round of questioning of Board members, including independent directors. Senior officials said the Board was silent as the company stayed away from paying tax-deducted at source (TDS) and service tax to appropriate agencies.
The agency is also investigating if the directors were hand-in-glove with the management. The new Companies Act calls for stringent action against independent directors.
SFIO wants to interrogate Vijay Mallya once again for completing the case against Kingfisher.
At present, SFIO is scrutinising tonnes of documents sent by United Breweries. In the last interrogation, Mallya repeatedly said Kingfisher had made operational losses in business. SFIO sources said, "We will co-ordinate with the Enforcement Directorate for this matter."
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