Regulator warns GP on audit delay

The audit firm appointed by the telecom regulator to look into Grameenphone's accounts and network usage has complained that the operator is not cooperating.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has warned Grameenphone and criticised it for not cooperating with the auditor.

The BTRC's warning came after a complaint from the auditor, Toha Khan Zaman & Co, which was scheduled to start work four months ago. The auditor alleged that Grameenphone is trying to delay the

process.

In a statement, Grameenphone said: “We are not against the audit. However, we have requested the BTRC to give us clarity on the status of a previous audit outcome.” 

In 2011, the BTRC first moved to audit Grameenphone, claiming Tk 3,034 crore from the company in evaded tax and revenue sharing. The issue is still pending with the High Court after the telecom company challenged the appointment of the previous auditor.

In a letter to Grameenphone yesterday, the BTRC, said: “GP should not try, by raising some irrelevant issues in a ludicrous manner, to hinder the lawful activities of BTRC.”

“It is expected that upon completion of the new audit, the issues raised by GP regarding the previous audit will be resolved.”

Grameenphone said it received the regulator's warning letter and was still analysing it.

The letter also reads that if Grameenphone does not cooperate, it will amount to a violation of Telecom Act 2001 and the terms laid out in its licence.

“We are running out of time and by the look of it, we don't think we can complete the audit in time,” said a senior official of Toha Khan Zaman & Co, a chartered accounting firm.  “We have not been even able to enter the Grameenphone premises.”

The BTRC signed the auditing deal with Toha Khan Zaman & Co on October 6 last year. According to the deal, the auditor was supposed to start work within 14 days of signing the deal and complete it within 180 days.

Now, Toha Khan Zaman has only two months to complete the audit.

“We have already found several anomalies in the documents we received from the regulator. We cannot discuss it with the media as we have a contractual binding with BTRC,” the official told The Daily Star yesterday.

The issue was raised at a meeting of the commission, and it is not happy with the operator's role, said Shahjahan Mahmood, chairman of BTRC.

Grameenphone said some pending issues should be settled before the start of the audit. “We need to know what will happen to the government demand in the previous audit,” said Mahmud Hossain, chief corporate affairs officer of Grameenphone.

In a letter to the regulator on October 20 last year, Grameenphone raised questions on how the BTRC could open a new audit when the previous issue was still pending with the High Court.