More drama at Entrust: Audit finds 8 new accounts
View(s):The scandal-hit primary dealer Entrust Securities (Entrust) has had a new twist in its saga with The Central Bank – ordered forensic audit conducted by the KPMG auditors, with the discovery of eight other accounts that Entrust monies have gone into, informed sources said. ”The Central Bank (CB) has contracted KPMG to carry out an extended forensic audit on the entire Entrust group after this new information,” a source told the Business Times. He said that the CB had also requested two commercial banks to look into personal accounts of some Entrust directors in an attempt to get the complete trail of cash gone missing in the company.
They have already identified that certain transactions through the company have been routed to personal accounts of some top officials.
“It’s a massive scam. They (Entrust) have issued repurchase agreements without underlying government guarantees,” a senior CB official told the Business Times. The CB took over the crisis-hit firm on January 5 and handed it to a management team from NSB after it was revealed that liabilities far exceeded assets. According to latest data, Entrust owes Rs. 5.3 billion to just three institutions – and the two on top of the list are CB and the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). -(DEC)