India detected at least 22 violations of auditing standards by Deloitte Haskins & Sells and a KPMG affiliate while investigating a fraud at a financial company, leading it to seek a five-year ban on the auditors, according to government legal filings seen by Reuters.
The failures were detected as part of a wide-ranging probe into alleged fraud and mismanagement at Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), which defaulted on its debt obligations last year and sparked fears of financial contagion.
Both auditors have denied wrongdoing.
After the government took over IL&FS, government investigators began looking into one of its key financial units, IFIN, which was audited by Deloitte between 2008/09 and 2017/18, and by a KPMG affiliate, BSR & Associates, from 2017/18.
