Ex-TFL staffer retracted statement to Kale

In a dramatic twist to the Tata Finance-AF Ferguson drama, a letter dated August 14, 2001, addressed to the audit firm’s then senior partner, Y.M. Kale, by an ex-TFL employee Prakash B. Karyekar, has revealed that the August 9, 2001 statement submitted by Karyekar was ‘factually incorrect’. That statement of August 9 formed the basis of the Tata group’s allegation that Kale had withheld crucial information provided to him by Karyekar.

In the August 14 letter to Kale, under the subject ‘My written statement dated August 9, 2001 submitted to you’, Karyekar has said: “I refer to the above mentioned statement submitted by me to your office and would like to inform you that the said statement was factually incorrect as it was prepared under tremendous tension, with disturbed frame of mind due to shock and also under the threat of an arrest.”

When contacted, Ferguson refused to comment and said that they did not wish to speak to the press. Tatas refused to comment on the matter. The August 14 letter highlighted: “In view of this, I request you to remove the above-referred statement from your records and not to use the same for any purposes.” Karyekar, added in the letter: “My lawyers have advised me that since the case has been filed with Mumbai Police against me, no statement should be made by me to any other investigator except the police. In view of this I will submit my statement to the police and if you wish you can collect the same from them for your investigation report.”