BSEC appoints special auditor at Delta Life

Amid contradictory claims by Delta Life Insurance Company and its primary regulator, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has appointed a special auditor at the listed company.

At a press conference on Monday, BSEC Chairman Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam said to protect shareholders' interest in the wake of the opposing claims, BSEC appointed a chartered accountancy firm to conduct a special audit of the company.

BSEC officials later told The Business Standard chartered accountants of MABS & J Partners would audit Delta Life for several weeks and submit the special audit findings to the securities regulator.

Delta Life, now run by an administrator appointed by the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA), arranged its last annual general meeting for the 2018 fiscal year in 2019. It has not arranged any meeting since then as its primary regulator is not approving its actuarial basis, which is a must for declaring dividends.

The IDRA appointed two chartered accountancy firms to look into irregularities at the company. The firms submitted their reports, which said there had been some irregularities at Delta Life.

Meanwhile, questioning the justification of the audit findings of the two firms, Delta Life recently alleged that the IDRA chairman was harassing it by asking for bribes.

Recently, it also petitioned the Anti-Corruption Commission for withdrawing bribe allegations that it had made against the IDRA chairman. It did so as per the order of the IDRA-appointed administrator, based on recommendations of an internal committee formed by the administrator.

Delta Life is the first private sector life insurer in the country. It began its journey in the 1980s and was listed on the stock market in 1995.