In a fresh crackdown on the Sahara Group, regulator SEBI has found another group firm to have raised over Rs 14,000 crores in violation of rules and has ordered the company and its then directors, including Subrata Roy, to refund the money with 15 per cent annual interest. The order, which also bars the company, Sahara India Commercial Corporation Ltd (SICCL), as well as its then directors and associated entities from the markets and from associating with any public entity, relates to collecting funds between 1998 and 2009 from nearly two crore investors, through issuance of certain bonds.
In the case of SICCL too, the SEBI order mentioned that the company made submissions that it has already refunded the money collected from the investors in cash, barring Rs 18 crores, for which the bondholders did not turn up for the refund.
However, the regulator said the company did not provide any proof for repayment through banking channels. In her 54-page order, SEBI’s whole time member Madhabi Puri Buch, said the repayments must be done through non-transferrable bank demand draft or pay order, while the refund amount directions would be modified for the money claimed to have been already returned to investors, provided the payments are made through prescribed route and are certified by peer-reviewed chartered accountants.
In case of the refund to be made by Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy and others party to the earlier SEBI orders against two other Sahara firms, the amount needs to be deposited in the existing SEBI-Sahara account, from which the regulator would make further refunds to concerned investors, after permission from the Supreme Court. Earlier in 2011, SEBI had ordered Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd (SHICL) to refund the money raised from investors through OFCD route.
Courtesy/By: Shubham Mathur
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05 Nov 2018
