Finablr’s Co-Chairman Dr B.R. Shetty makes fraud allegations

Finablr PLC (LON:FIN), a provider of cross-border payments, FX and payment technology, today published a statement from its Co-Chairman Dr B.R. Shetty who is making fraud allegations. Finablr notes that it takes all allegations of fraud and wrongdoing with the utmost seriousness and will continue actively to pursue all available lines of enquiry.

Dr B.R. Shetty says that preliminary findings provided by his advisors from his own investigations indicate that serious fraud and wrongdoing appears to have taken place at NMC, Finablr, as well as within some of his private companies, and against him personally. This fraud, according to him, appears to have been undertaken by a small group of current and former executives at these companies.

Some of these preliminary findings include:

• The fraudulent creation and operating of bank accounts in Dr B.R. Shetty’s name including many fraudulent transfers that he claims he neither authorised, consented to, or had any knowledge of.
• The fraudulent creation of loans, personal guarantees, cheques and bank transfers in his name, and using his forged signature;
• The creation and set-up of companies in his name that he neither authorised, consented to, or had any knowledge of, and that were seemingly created with the express intention to commit or conceal fraud.
• The fraudulent creation of powers of attorney, and the misuse of existing powers of attorney, again in his name, that he neither authorised, consented to, or had any knowledge of.
• The creation and provision to him of false and misleading financial statements and information regarding the performance of some of his private companies and investments by members of his own management team.
• The payments of expenses using his private companies and personal bank accounts, he believes to hide the true financials of the public companies.

As FinanceFeeds reported earlier in April, Finablr has appointed global investment bank Houlihan Lokey as Independent Financial Advisor. Houlihan Lokey will explore strategic options for Finablr including a debt restructuring, capital raise or sale of assets.

In March, Finablr confirmed that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has agreed to the temporary suspension of listing of the shares of Finablr PLC at the request of the company.

The update was published just a couple of days after the company announced a number of factors that were placing significant constraints on its access to daily liquidity and its ability to negotiate longer term financing. Since that announcement, these constraints have become amplified. They are having a material adverse impact on the company’s operations, including resulting in the company no longer being able to provide certain payment processing services.

In addition, the Board has been informed of the presence of cheques (written by Group companies and dating back to before the IPO), which may have been used as security for financing arrangements for the benefit of third parties. A preliminary view is that the amount of these cheques totals approximately US$100 million.