Adani Ports appoints new auditors after Deloitte resigns

Adani Ports said it appointed MSKA & Associates as the statutory auditors of the company, effective Aug. 12.

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.

The Indian unit of Deloitte in May raised concerns over transactions between Adani Ports and three entities that Adani said were unrelated parties. The auditor said at the time it couldn’t verify Adani’s claims and couldn’t determine if the business was fully compliant with local laws. Bloomberg News reported Friday that Deloitte planned to resign.

Deloitte Haskins & Sells said in a letter dated Aug. 12 that it’s tendering its resignation as statutory auditors because “we are not statutory auditors of a substantial number of other Adani Group of companies.”

The auditor’s resignation has brought fresh scrutiny of the financial management at Adani Group, led by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani. The group has denied Hindenburg’s allegations made around alleged improper use of tax havens and other business dealings.

Commenting for the first time on the matter, Adani Ports said in a statement that in meetings with its leadership, Deloitte indicated concern over a lack of a wider audit role as auditors of other listed Adani companies.

However it was conveyed to the auditor it was not within the remit of Adani Ports to recommend such appointments as other entities are “completely independent”, the company said.

“The Audit Committee (of Adani Ports) 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,” Gopal Krishna Pillai, Chairman of the Audit Committee of Adani Ports, said in the statement.

“Deloitte was not willing to continue as … auditor and, therefore, it was agreed to amicably end the client-auditor contractual relationship,” he said.