NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside the Bombay high court verdict which had quashed the SFIO probe against audit firms BSR & Associates and Deloitte Haskins & Sells, both former auditors of IL&FS Financial Services, over alleged financial irregularities.
Allowing the appeal of the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) and the Centre against the high court verdict, the top court also upheld the validity of section 140(5) of the Companies Act, 2013.
The provision deals with removal and resignation of auditors and imposes a five-year ban on an auditing firm that is proven to have “acted in a fraudulent manner”, or to have “abetted or colluded in any fraud”.
