“…The conduct of REL prima facie reveals a coordinated pattern of financial misrepresentation, concealment and regulatory non-compliance extending across multiple financial years,” Kamlesh Chandra Varshney, whole-time member at SEBI said in the interim order, dated 3 June.REL denies it all. In a statement to the exchanges Thursday, it said that this was just an interim order and that there had been “no adverse conclusion” on any aspect by SEBI.“The revenues declared by the company are correct and there is no overstating of revenues. There seems to be some type of communication gap and confusion between SEBI and the company,” the statement read, adding that REL is in the process of clarifying all of SEBI’s queries and providing the necessary documents.SEBI’s investigation was based on a shareholder’s complaint from 11 March, 2024, which raised concerns about a large sum of trade receivables having been outstanding for two years at the time, suggesting possible irregularities.The resultant interim order, barring promoter Rajesh Mehta from trading in the company’s shares, presents a highly complex picture. The firm’s mesh of subsidiaries, repeated routing and re-routing of funds, and pattern of misrepresentation of revenues, sales and purchases are all under the regulator’s scanner.On Thursday, the matter quickly took on a political flavour, too, as the Congress questioned LIC’s stake.“How could LIC fail to detect such a massive fraud in a company where it held such a substantial stake? This raises the question of whether the purchase of such a large stake by LIC was directed by the ruling ecosystem,” Congress MP Jairam Ramesh wrote on X.A spokesperson representing LIC (third-party) said that the company did not want to comment.