Accounting fraud: Ricoh sacks two, accepts CEO's resignation

Japanese imaging and electronics major's Indian subsidiary Ricoh India on Sunday said it has terminated the employment of its CFO Arvind Singhal and Senior Vice-President and COO Anil Saini on finding that they have "caused grave loss to the company".

Ricoh India has also accepted the resignation of MD and CEO Manoj Kumar.

"Pursuant to the investigations carried out by the company, it has emerged that the above-stated officials of the company were in breach of the statutory duties assigned to their office... The acts and omissions of such employees have caused grave loss to the company," Ricoh India said in a BSE filing.

 

It further said: "The board of directors of the company has decided to terminate the employment of Arvind Singhal and Anil Saini of the company with immediate effect. The board has accepted the resignation of Manoj Kumar as the CEO of the company."

In July this year, indicating a possible accounting fraud, Ricoh India admitted that its accounts appear to be have been "falsified" as it estimated to have incurred a loss of Rs 1,123 crore for the fiscal ended March 2016.

Ricoh India had commissioned an investigation following preliminary findings of audit firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers, which found that Ricoh India's financial statements for April 1 to September 30, 2015 "did not reflect a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company".

"As per the investigation, it appears that the accounts have been falsified and the company's accounting principles and standards have been violated," Ricoh India had said in a regulatory filing.

In April, the company's India's MD and CEO Manoj Kumar had resigned from the board after being asked to go on leave amid an audit in the company by a committee.

All three were suspended by the company on June 8.

The company estimated aggregate loss after tax for the fiscal ended March 2016 to be at Rs 1,123 crore.

It added that Ricoh will ascertain the conclusive actual amount of the loss suffered by the company in 2015-16, which would be subject to audit and confirmation by the statutory auditors of the company.