Winsome Diamonds raises concern over credibility of Kroll report

In the recent months, there have been quite a few media reports about Winsome Diamonds and Jewellery Limited’s alleged involvement in the conspiracy to defraud banks in India and selling of synthetic diamonds in India. However, the company has issued a statement clarifying its stand on both the issues. The company has informed all, including the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange, of the correct position.

The company has clarified that the media reports about the suspected conspiracy to defraud banks in India are reportedly based on an investigative report prepared by Kroll. Here, the company has raised its concerns over the credibility of the report which contains information that is incorrect and unfounded and has been fabricated to malign the Company and its Promoter, says company clarification.

This report was commissioned by a Foreign Bank that is part of the Consortium of lenders and this bank has conveniently debited the fee for the said report from the Company’s bank account without its knowledge or any intimation to it. However, despite debiting the fee for the report from the Company’s account, it has not been given a copy of this report since its completion about a year ago after repeated requests. However, the report has been made available to the media to carry out a negative campaign with an attempt to influence the concerned authorities investigating the present business crisis.

Further, the company claims that some of the Banks from the lending consortium have questioned the credibility of Kroll report. The report not only makes reckless allegations against the Company but against the entire government apparatus including but not limited to Customs, Government Departments and Financial Institutions. The Company was informed by an officer of the Foreign Bank that Kroll has no legal obligations to ensure the credibility of the report or to verify the claims made in the report. Further, the company has added that certain vested interests including business rivals, with the assistance of some of the bankers in the consortium, are orchestrating constant media trials based on a concocted report.

A forensic audit report carried out at the same time by Ernst and Young has evidently yielded no negative findings against the Company or its officers but has also not been made available to the Company by the Lending Consortium despite numerous requests.

The genuine issues faced by the Company’s customers, who have been verified by the Banks via Dun and Bradstreet reports at the start of the relationship, was reported to the Banks with a payment plan as agreed to with the Customers. This payment plan was part of the CDR plan. The CDR offer was accepted by an overwhelming 88 per cent mandate of the Consortium Banks which has not been reported on showing that the Banks believed in the genuine nature of the events. A change in RBI regulations for CDR settlement caused this process to stall.

Now, the company has begun legal proceedings against Company’s customers in the UAE and will continue to pursue all necessary actions to recover the receivables.