Having watched the payments crisis of the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) unfold from the sidelines, the Securities and Exchange Bureau of India (Sebi) has now jumped in to probe if there were any alleged irregularities in the financial statements submitted by the promoter company FTIL.

According to a report in Mint, a day after FTIL’s auditor Deloitte Haskins and Sells withdrew its audit reports on the company’s financial statements for fiscal 2013, the markets watchdog will now investigate the company’s financial statements for possible frauds.

Upon investigation, if incidents of frauds and misrepresentation come to light, Sebi may debar the company’s promoters and directors from accessing the capital markets for raising funds. Further, they may also be banned from holding directorship in any listed firm, Sebi officials have said.

Meanwhile, FTIL refused to comment on the issue.

The company’s auditor has raised serious concerns on its financial statements, saying that they cannot be relied upon inlight of the ongoing crisis at NSEL.

Jignesh Shah led FTIL is the majority stakeholder of NSEL with a 99.99 percent stake. The exchange has been in choppy waters after it suspended trading in all its forward trading contracts on July 31 without giving out any reason. Since then, the exchange has been struggling to make payments worth Rs 5,600 crore due to around 13,000 investors.