New Delhi: InterGlobe Enterprises (IGE), the holding company of Indi-Go promoter Rahul Bhatia , has denied the existence of any whistleblower complaints related to corporate governance at the airline.A person close to IGE and Bhatia said co-promoter Rakesh Gangwal’s statement about the existence of the complaints was merely a “smokescreen” to cover his “larger game plan” for the control of the airline, which currently vests with the IGE group.“You are missing the forest for the trees. The real issue is about the controlling rights of the company,” said the person, when asked to clarify on the allegations over corporate governance raised by Gangwal.Gangwal had flagged transactions between IndiGo and IGE for the airline’s leased headquarter office space in Gurugram, a simulator facility for pilots and also the use of Accor hotels in India for pilots and crew.The person close to Bhatia and IGE countered these allegations, saying that they had proposed an audit of all these transactions by one of the Big Four audit firms. However, Gangwal denied it on the grounds that they did not have the wherewithal to conduct such an audit, he said.“The audit was conducted by EY only after chairman M Damodaran wanted it to be done. Also, of the total Accor’s revenue in India, only about 3% comes from IndiGo. All the hotel deals are through competitive bidding,” said the person.When approached, Gangwal did not comment on any of the issues.Gangwal, on July 8, wrote to the Securities and Exchange Board of India, seeking its intervention to address what he termed as corporate governance issues at IndiGo.He had raised concerns about certain related-party transactions and corporate governance rules, including of the company not having a woman independent member on the board.Agencies including Sebi are looking into the complaints raised in the letter.

Source: Economic Times July 25, 2019 01:01 UTC