Active Stocks
Thu Mar 28 2024 15:59:33
  1. Tata Steel share price
  2. 155.90 2.00%
  1. ICICI Bank share price
  2. 1,095.75 1.08%
  1. HDFC Bank share price
  2. 1,448.20 0.52%
  1. ITC share price
  2. 428.55 0.13%
  1. Power Grid Corporation Of India share price
  2. 277.05 2.21%
Business News/ Companies / Sahara to take back truckloads of documents from Sebi
BackBack

Sahara to take back truckloads of documents from Sebi

The Supreme Court in 2012 had ordered Sahara to give Sebi entire sets of investor documents for verification so that money can be refunded to genuine investors

Photo: Abhijit Bhatlekar/MintPremium
Photo: Abhijit Bhatlekar/Mint

New Delhi: As it scurries to garner funds to ensure release of jailed chief Subrata Roy, the embattled Sahara India Pariwar has begun another mammoth exercise of taking back thousands of investor documents it had given to the markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in 128 trucks over three years ago.

The move follows Sebi getting 41 crore, from interest earned on money deposited by Sahara for investor refunds, as reimbursement of expenses incurred by the regulator in the case, including towards huge storage costs of these documents that are key to verification of investors.

The Supreme Court in August 2012 had ordered Sahara to deposit with Sebi over 24,000 crore collected from nearly three crore investors through issuance of certain bonds.

Sahara was also asked to give Sebi the entire sets of investor documents for verification so that the money can be refunded to genuine investors. Consequently, Sahara had sent 128 trucks, containing more than 31,000 cartons full of documents to Sebi, which had to hire special storage facility for their safekeeping.

The regulator later digitized those documents for easier access. Sahara said Sebi declined to take custody of another batch of documents, estimated at about 25% of the total investor documents, that were sent by it to the regulator.

As per court orders, Sahara is to pay for the expenses incurred by Sebi towards the storage of documents and other expenditure involved in the refund process. Amid mounting costs associated with the storage of the documents, Sahara has now sought taking back their custody as Sebi has digitized the original papers.

The regulator has agreed to return the original documents, provided they are kept in “safe custody under double-locking system by Sebi and Sahara", a senior official said, adding the Supreme Court has also given its approval for the same.

When contacted, a Sahara spokesperson confirmed that the group has begun working on an arrangement for safe keeping of these documents and the costs would be “naturally" much less.

“We shall prefer to transport documents ourselves," the spokesperson said in reply to queries on whether Sahara would want Sebi to transport the papers back to it and reimburse them the associated costs.

The spokesperson further said Sebi has refunded only 50 crore to Sahara’s investors in the last 40 months. “After publishing four times through 144 newspapers in the country, Sebi could get demand of only 52 crore, whereas Sebi has our 12,000 crore (including interest earned)" in the Sebi-Sahara account, the spokesperson added.

“So, it is painful that that we have to pay 41 crore," he said on reimbursement of expenses incurred by Sebi.

The spokesperson said, “Sebi has not yet received around 25% of the documents, for the reason best known to Sebi. After discussing with Sebi, we shall take a decision whether this 25% documents shall be kept with rest of the documents or not."

Roy and two other senior group executives have been in Delhi’s Tihar jail for nearly two years, even as the firm claims to have refunded money to over 95% of the investors directly. PTI

(Sahara has filed a defamation case in a Patna court against Mint’s editor and some reporters over the newspaper’s coverage of the company’s dispute with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Mint is contesting the case.)

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Corporate news and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
More Less
Published: 14 Feb 2016, 06:50 PM IST
Next Story footLogo
Recommended For You
Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App

Chat with MintGenie