Thursday, January 9, 2014

Orissa orders attachment of Saradha Group assets


The Naveen Patnaik government has ordered attachment of properties of Kolkata-based chit fund company Saradha Group under investigation in West Bengal and Orissa for allegedly defrauding investors of Rs 20,000 crore.

Two days ago, the Orissa finance department passed an interim order for attachment of over 14 acres of land, and freeze Rs 2,740 crore of the group in IDBI account in Balasore district.

The finance department on November 30 passed an ad-interim order (The Indian Express has a copy of the order) attaching properties of the group under section 3 of Orissa Protection of Interests of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act, 2013 and transferred properties in the said schedule to additional district magistrate (ADM) Balasore, the competent authority under the Act.

The ADM would apply within 30 days to the designated court for making an ad-interim order of attachment absolute and for a direction to sell property attached by public auction and realize sale proceeds within 180 days.

"It is revealed that financial establishments are acting in a calculated manner with an intention to defraud investors of their legitimate dues. The properties are alleged to have been procured either in the name of the said financial establishments or in the names of other persons from and out of deposits collected by it...", the order said.

As per the ad-interim order, land was purchased in the name of Saradha Realty India Ltd by its managing director Sudipta Sen and director Debika Dasgupta in Balasore 5-6 km from the DRDO Interim Test Range.

The Economic Offences Wing of Orissa's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has not put a value to the attached land. In Orissa, the loss is about Rs 70 crore. The CID registered two cases against Sen and group director Debjani Mukherjee.

Two employees of the Balasore branch have been arrested. CID is planning to get Sen and Mukherjee to Orissa for interrogation. The Patnaik government in July constituted an inquiry by retired HC judge R K Patra to look into involvement of influential persons in protecting or promoting fraudulent chit funds. The Commission received over 8 lakh envelopes, each containing one or more affidavits that are now being registered. Though the Commission was supposed to submit a report within three months of its constitution, it looks unlikely as it has to go through huge number of affidavits.

Courtesy:
Kolkata, Tue Dec 03 2013, 02:40 hrs
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/orissa-orders-attachment-of-saradha-group-assets/1202530/0


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