IL&FS Transportation Forensic Audit report Shows Gross Irregularities and Manipulation
he forensic audit report of IL&FS Transportation Networks (ITNL) and its special purpose vehicles (SPVs) by Grant Thornton, shows gross financial mismanagement, withdrawal of funds from projects by ITNL leading to large cost overruns and accounting manipulation. The report found that road projects had to suffer Rs8,077 crore cost overrun, largely due to funds being taken out by ITNL. Interest cost overruns of Rs3,433.42 crore were one of the significant components of project cost overruns contributing 42% of the total project cost overruns. The mechanism of this is as follows: IL&FS initially advanced loans at 10% to the SPVs. These loans were later assigned to other lenders. The assignment resulted in effect where SPVs had borrowed funds from the new lenders and repaid the loans taken from ITNL. The SPVs were charged an interest rate of 14-16% on loans assigned by ITNL against the 10-12% charged by ITNL earlier. The interest was to be borne by the SPVs, resulting in a cost overrun of Rs3,433 crore.