Byju Raveendran on EY’s role in insolvency: ‘No escape for those involved’

Byju’s founder and CEO, Byju Raveendran, reiterated his claims of collusion in the company’s insolvency proceedings, stating that new evidence submitted to court proves that EY India acted on behalf of GLAS Trust in what he calls a “massive fraud.” In an exclusive interview with TOI, Raveendran said the whistleblower documents circulating online contain the same evidence he referenced in his recent LinkedIn post, which was briefly taken down before being restored. With a hearing scheduled at the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Tuesday, Raveendran asserts that the emails and documents submitted as evidence will expose the extent of EY’s involvement. Excerpts from the interview.

Did you ever suspect that EY was representing or working for the Glas trust during any period of your involvement?
Yes, we had suspicion from the very beginning that there was some kind of foul play going on. But the level of potential involvement... These are all there for anyone to go and verify. That's why I'm only asking people to investigate. The emails from EY are not mere screenshots; they are attachments.

Could you please clarify the whistleblower documents and LinkedIn post you are referring to?
The LinkedIn post is more about how it will clear the way for us to come back easily. So far, all allegations have been against us. It's only a matter of time before people realise who is playing the fraud game.

What do you mean by coming back? The company is under insolvency.
We have been in insolvency. Otherwise, we have settled with the BCCI like six months back.
What are you planning to do now?
We already filed these files along with a lot of evidence we have. There is no escape for whoever did this. This is a massive fraud that happened now, and someone needs to investigate it so that everyone will know. We filed this in NCLAT, which will come up for hearing on Tuesday. If you go through the allegations, EY has been running this process for Glas. It's supposed to be an independent process. If you clearly ask them whether those emails are from the EY employees, they might be able to give a picture to you in a different way, but in court, they won't be able to lie.

What are your submissions to the court?
Byju: Now it's no longer just a whistleblower comment. We submitted it to the court. That has not come out anywhere.We submitted this, and obviously, we have many documents. When you connect, that's when you will see what happened. It will come up in court on Tuesday.