United Spirits has said that it has received notices from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the Income Tax Department in relation to the alleged irregularities in loans given away by Vijay Mallya to other UB Group entities.

“The company has received a notice from the MCA for an inspection, under Section 206 (5) of the Act, of the books of accounts and other books and papers of the company. A notice under Section 131 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 has also been received. The company is cooperating fully with the authorities in relation to the same,” United Spirits said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The company added that its Board has asked MD and CEO Anand Kripalu to further probe the possibility of any other transaction of a similar nature.

In April, United Spirits, now controlled by London-based Diageo plc, asked Mallya to step down after a probe report revealed that up to Rs 2,000 crore had been diverted from the company to other UB Group entities, especially the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines, when Mallya was its owner.

Diageo owns 54 per cent of USL, which it bought for about $3 billion from Mallya and other shareholders. In September 2014, the USL board had asked PriceWaterhouse Coopers to conduct a probe. According to the PwC report, submitted to the board on April 24, between 2010 and 2013, about ₹1,337 crore was diverted from USL to certain UB Group companies, particularly Kingfisher Airlines. According to the report, the manner in which certain transactions were conducted prima facie indicated improprieties and legal violations. Mallya has trashed these allegations.

While announcing its annual results on Wednesday, United Spirits said it has also received letters from National Stock Exchange and the erstwhile auditors, PW and Walker Chandiok & Co. While the auditor sought to understand the impact of the findings of the enquiry on their respective audit reports, the NSE note comes after the Security Exchange Board Directed it to advice the company to rectify certain qualifications raised by the auditors. “Any remedial measures proposed by the erstwhile auditors will be considered by the company as per the application legal provisions,” USL said.

The company's board has made a provision of Rs 1,700 crore for doubtful loans and reported a standalone loss of Rs 1,799 crore for the quarter ended March 2015 compared to a loss of Rs 5,380 crore during the same quarter last year.

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