Adani Ports has named MSKA & Associates, an independent member firm of BDO International, as its new auditor, it said in the statement. The move comes after Adani Ports voted at a board meeting Saturday to accept the resignation of Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP. The appointment is effective until the date of the company’s next annual general meeting to be held in 2024, Adani said in a regulatory filing.
Deloitte had decided to resign from the role amid concerns over certain related party transactions flagged in a report by U.S. short seller Hindenburg in January, but the Indian company did not wish to look into them independently, a source told Reuters on Friday.
Deloitte in May first pointed to certain transactions flagged by Hindenburg in its report and gave only a qualified opinion related to Adani Ports, indicating concerns by a company’s auditor.
“The Audit Committee/ Board is pleased to appoint M/s. M S K A & Associates (FRN: 105047W) Chartered Accountants, (an independent member firm of BDO International), a Top 6 global audit firm, as APSEZ’s auditor,” the company said in a statement. Adani Ports said it appointed MSKA & Associates as the statutory auditors of the company, effective Aug. 12.
“The Audit Committee/ Board is pleased to appoint M/s. M S K A & Associates (FRN: 105047W) Chartered Accountants, (an independent member firm of BDO International), a Top 6 global audit firm, as APSEZ’s auditor,” the statement further said.
Since May 2017, Deloitte has been Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone’s (APSEZ) statutory auditor. In July 2022, APSEZ reappointed Deloitte as its statutory auditor for another term of five years. In Deloitte’s recent meeting with APSEZ management and its Audit Committee, which, by policy, is comprised of and chaired by independent directors only (Mr. G. K. Pillai, Prof G. Raghuram, Mr. P. S. Jayakumar and Mrs. Nirupama Rao), Deloitte indicated a lack of a wider audit role as auditors of other listed Adani portfolio companies. The Audit Committee was of the view that the grounds advanced by Deloitte for resignation as Statutory Auditor were not convincing or sufficient to warrant such a move. It was also conveyed that it is not within the remit of the APSEZ and its Board to recommend group-wide appointments as other listed Adani portfolio companies are completely independent, with separate boards, executive teams and minority shareholders. Following this, Deloitte was not willing to continue as APSEZ’s statutory auditor and, therefore, it was agreed to amicably end the client-auditor contractual relationship between APSEZ and Deloitte.
It is important to mention that, in response to a query by the Audit Committee, Deloitte confirmed that they have received all the APSEZ information from the management of the Company. The same has been confirmed by Deloitte in their resignation letter dated August 12, 2023 to the Company.
“The ’Other Matters’ highlighted in the auditor’s resignation are adequately disclosed and addressed in our FY23 financial statements. We are fully confident that these matters will be appropriately resolved in our September ‘23 filing,” said Gopal Krishna Pillai, Chairman of the Audit Committee, APSEZ
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Updated: 12 Aug 2023, 09:16 PM IST