-The Hindustan Times Demanding a CBI inquiry into Saradha Group financial scam, CPI(M) has accused chief minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew of being involved in Ponzi schemes. "Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee, who is the leader of Trinamool Youth Congress, runs a company which is involved in real estate and micro-finance and has made a huge amount of money in the last two to three years. Its turnover has skyrocketed to 300 crores...

-The Times of India A year after the UPA presented a white paper on black money in Parliament, spelling out strategy to curb generation of illicit money and preventing its offshore flight, one of the most potent weapons created to tackle the menace and bring offenders to book - theincome tax department's Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) - stands dismantled and powerless. The last search-and-survey operation, better known as I-T raids,...

-CNN-IBN Kolkata: The West Bengal chit fund is getting bigger each day. It has now turns out that ponzi schemes in the state financed not just media houses but Tollywood films as well. In the past four years, at least one in three films has been produced by groups that run ponzi schemes. Rose Valley, a deposit-taking company which is now under the MCA scanner, has produced 18 films including three National...

-The Hindu The Saradha group's spectacular failure has inflicted severe pain not only on its gullible depositors and agents but in a real sense on India's financial regulators and the State government as well. There is a law and order problem in West Bengal. Very soon, public attention will shift to regulation or the lack of it. The crisis, it appears, will not be confined to one state. In the worst...

-The Hindu Even as thousands come to terms with the loss of life savings in the West Bengal "chit funds," it is interesting to find politicians promising new stern laws against such funds. Absence of laws is the least of the reasons for such schemes flourishing in the State. We are not short of such laws - in fact, we have plenty of laws that prohibit such schemes and provide for...