The Regional State Administrative Agency of Southern Finland has ordered audit firm Idman Vilån Grant Thornton Oy, with Chartered Accountant Jussi Savio as principal auditor, to conduct a special audit of LSE-listed Afarak Group’s administration and accounts for various financial periods.
Minority shareholders of the company submitted an application to the agency, in June 2018, requesting the special audit.
The Regional State Administrative Agency found that the application disclosed weighty reasons for reviewing the regularity of transactions made with all companies potentially belonging to the immediate circle of shareholder and former CEO of Afarak, Danko Koncar.
In other respects, the agency rejected the applicants’ claims.
The audit firm will conduct a special audit of Afarak’s accounts for the financial periods from January 1 to December 31, 2015; January 1 to December 31, 2016; and January 1 to December 31, 2017; as well as for the period from January 1 to April 30, 2018, to clarify the business and legal transactions conducted by Koncar with his probable immediate circle.
“We are pleased that a decision has now been given and that the audit is limited so that it that does not cause the company significant cost burdens or burden human resources,” Afarak CEO Guy Konsbruck said in a statement on Friday.
He added that Afarak would cooperate with the auditor to ensure an expeditious auditing process and expressed the hope that the special audit would be carried out as soon as possible.
Mining Weekly Online reported in November 2018 that Afarak resolved not to appoint a new board of directors, following a request by shareholders, who held a collective 11.09% of shares, to dismiss the company’s board.
The shareholders’ request, submitted in August 2018, had followed after the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FFSA) had said Koncar, and entities controlled by him, had acted together with Hino Resources, Finaline Business and Koncar’s spouse to exercise control in Afarak.