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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | SEBI digs deeper, chit scam gets bigger -P Vaidyanathan Iyer

SEBI digs deeper, chit scam gets bigger -P Vaidyanathan Iyer

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published Published on Apr 26, 2013   modified Modified on Apr 26, 2013
-The Indian Express


Kolkata: Saradha Realty Ltd, which has gone bust now, may be just the beginning of the unfolding of a deeply entrenched Ponzi scheme network involving dozens of other companies in West Bengal, some of which also wield considerable media power given their ownership of television channels and newspapers.

According to information available with the union corporate affairs and finance ministries, six companies, against whom market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has already moved, are running a variety of doubtful and exotic deposit schemes and have raised in excess of Rs 7,000 crore so far. But, regulatory sources said, most of these companies have developed political connections with the ruling party, resulting in a situation where SEBI's every move is resisted by the state government and the police.

Two companies of the Rose Valley group - Rose Valley Real Estate and Construction Ltd and Rose Valley Hotels and Entertainment Ltd - have separately raised Rs 1,272 crore and Rs 2,900 crore respectively. Though SEBI passed an ad interim ex parte order restraining Rose Valley Real Estate and Constructions from accepting further deposits on January 3, 2011, the company continues to raise money. It has so far stalled all efforts by the regulator to give effect to its order by approaching the courts.

For SEBI, it has been a long, lonely and frustrating battle against not just the Rose Valley group, but five more companies, including Saradha, where lakhs of investors have deposited money in various schemes. At the regulator's instance, the Union Finance Ministry wrote to the West Bengal government almost a year back to rein in such companies that are defrauding investors. But little or no action has been forthcoming so far, said sources in regulatory agencies.

All the six companies under SEBI scanner have either filed writ petitions in the Calcutta high court or managed to get injunction orders from district courts. "It is ridiculous that district courts are issuing injunctions against our restraint orders in collective investment schemes," said a SEBI official on condition of anonymity.

Besides the two Rose Valley companies, MPS Greenery Developers Ltd, Sun-Plant Agro Ltd and Sumangal Industries Ltd have challenged SEBI's orders in various courts.

MPS Greenery Developers Ltd, which is led by Pramatha Nath Manna as its managing director, raised Rs 1,520 crore as on September-end last year. The company has challenged SEBI's December 6, 2012 order directing it to wind up its collective investment scheme (CIS) and refund the money. Here too, SEBI hit a wall.

In the case of Sun-Plant Agro Ltd - which, according to latest information available with the government, had collected Rs 24 crore till March 31, 2009 - SEBI asked the company to wind up its CIS schemes and refund depositors through an order on May 3, 2011. The company challenged the order through a writ petition. SEBI issued a showcause notice to the company's promoters this January.

Similarly, SEBI had barred Sumangal Industries Ltd under Section 11B of the SEBI Act on April 10 this year, directing it, among other things, not to raise money from investors and also not to dispose off any assets or properties related to its schemes. The company promptly filed a writ petition in the Calcutta high court within a week on April 17.

PONZI UNLIMITED

* Rose Valley Hotels & Entertainment Ltd

Rs 2,900 cr as on 31.3.2012

* MPS Greenery Developers Ltd

Rs 1,520 cr as on 30.9.2012

* Rose Valley Real Estate & Constructions Ltd

Rs 1,272 cr as on 31.3.2010

* Saradha Realty Ltd

Rs 1,200 cr (gone bust)

* Sun-Plant Agro Ltd

Rs 24 cr as on 31.3.2009

* Sumangal Industries Ltd

Sum raised: Unavailable


The Indian Express, 26 April, 2013, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/sebi-digs-deeper-chit-scam-gets-bigger/1107848/0


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