Probe into Sahara firm fraud underway: Nirmala
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 5
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday informed Parliament that the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) is conducting detailed investigations in the matter concerning Sahara group of companies, and action will be taken once the report is received.
She also informed that Rs 138 crore have been refunded to investors out of the total of over Rs 25,000 crore which needs to be returned under the two Sahara schemes.
Replying to a series of questions related to Sahara case during Question Hour in Lok Sabha, Sitharaman when asked as to why not all the investors of Sahara group companies have not come forward to claim refunds, said the Supreme Court was monitoring the entire issue and the government was acting as per its directives in the matter.
“It is true that only small investors have come forward to claim the refunds. The SFIO is investigating the entire matter. It is also looking into why all the investors have not come forward to claim the refunds and where are they,” she said.
Replying to another question, Sitharaman said so far the number of claims were 19,650, out of which, based on the eligibility criteria, 17,256 claims could be entertained and that resulted in refunds worth just Rs 138.07 crore.
She informed that despite repeated attempts through advertisements for public outreach, the desired results have not been achieved.
Questions on the matter were posed by CPI(M) MP from Sikar Amra Ram, Congress MP Dharamvira Gandhi from Patiala and BJP MP from Satna Ganesh Singh.
The Supreme Court in 2012 had directed SEBI to refund to subscribers the money invested in the Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures (OFCDs) issued by the two Sahara companies — Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Limited (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing and Investment Corporation Limited (SHICL) — after verifying their genuineness.
An estimated amount of about Rs 25,781.37 crores of 3.07 crore investors are due in the matter.
To Gandhi’s query about why money was not refunded to investors by auctioning certain properties of Sahara group of companies, Sitharaman said while some money has been recovered by auctioning a certain number of properties belonging to Sahara entities, quite a few of them were under litigation, therefore it was not an easy task to auction them and claim refunds.
