Grameenphone asks BTRC to withdraw ‘unfounded, illegal’ Tk 125bn audit demand

Grameenphone has urged the BTRC to withdraw the telecom regulator’s recent audit demand of over Tk 125 billion and sit for discussions to find an “amicable resolution”.

News Deskbdnews24.com
Published : 16 April 2019, 02:14 PM
Updated : 16 April 2019, 05:21 PM

The telecom operator’s CEO Michael Foley claims the regulator’s audit demand did not reflect the company’s responses. 

In a letter to the BTRC on Tuesday, the mobile telecom operator labelled the demand “unfounded and without any legal basis”, according to a statement from the company.

On Apr 2, BTRC issued a demand against Grameenphone of around Tk 85 billion to the telecom regulator and over Tk 40 billion to the National Board of Revenue or NBR within a period of 10 working days.

The claim originated from an Information and Systems Audit, conducted by the JVCA of Toha Khan Zaman & Co, on GP’s operations from inception in 1997 till December, 2014.

Approximately Tk 62 billion, or nearly 73 percent of the dues claimed on behalf of BTRC, is the interest amount being charged up to December, 2017.

GP responded in detail in September last year a month within the BTRC’s call for a formal response from the company on the audit findings, the statement said.

With regard to NBR portion of the demand, representing approximately 32 percent of the total claim, GP pointed out that BTRC has “no authority to raise any demand on behalf of NBR”, according to the statement.

“GP reiterates its request to BTRC to withdraw the demand and to engage in discussions with a view to find an amicable resolution,” it added.

“Despite numerous interactions with the Regulator and extending our full cooperation to the auditors, it is very unfortunate to note that the demand did not reflect our responses,” Grameenphone quoted Foley as saying in the statement.

“Throughout the entire audit process we have consistently pointed out the flaws in this audit exercise; however, our observations have gone unheeded,” he added.

The statement also mentioned that the Supreme Court had earlier declared the appointment of an auditor illegal when the BTRC had raised another claim against Grameenphone for over Tk 30 billion from a previous Information and System Audit conducted by another auditor for the period of 1997 to 2011.