Sahara Group deposits crores in repayment

The Sahara Group, which allegedly duped its investors, has so far submitted Rs 15,448.67 crore into the 'SEBI-Sahara Refund' account, according to the Ministry of Finance.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance, Anurag Thakur said that a cheque of Rs 41.59 crore in respect of a property situated at Vellore was produced before the Supreme Court last month and has been deposited at the bank, but the amount has not yet been realised.

SEBI has said that two Sahara Group companies -- Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd (SHICL) -- had raised money aggregating to Rs 19,400.87 crore and Rs 6,380.50 crore respectively from around 3.07 crore subscribers or investors by issuing optionally fully convertible debentures (OFCD) without filing offer documents with SEBI and in violation of its regulations.

"As per directions of the Supreme Court order, Sahara Group has deposited an amount of Rs 15,448.67 crore to 'SEBI-Sahara Refund' account as on 01.02.2020. Further, a cheque of Rs 41.59 crore in respect of a property situated at Vellore was produced before the Supreme Court on 24.01.2020, where the Supreme Court directed that the same shall be accepted by SEBI 'without prejudice'. The said cheque has been presented to the bank for depositing to 'SEBI-Sahara Refund' account,but has not yet been realised as on date," he said.

Thakur, who is also the Minister of State for Corporate Affairs, said market regulator SEBI has received 19,560 applications for refund, involving 53,361 original bond certificates or pass books for an aggregate principal amount of Rs 81.30 crore.

SEBI made refunds with respect to 14,146 applications involving 39,499 original bond certificates or pass books for an aggregate amount of Rs 109.86 crore, including the principal amounting to Rs 58.52 crore and interest of Rs 51.34 crore.

"The refund to investors is subject to verification of their applications and approval of Justice (Retd) B.N. Agarwal in terms of the order of the Supreme Court," Thakur said in his reply.

Last month the top court exempted the Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy and two other Directors from personal appearance till "further orders" in a case pertaining to the alleged failure in depositing Rs 25,700 crore in the SEBI-Sahara account.

In January last year, the apex court had directed Roy and other two directors, Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary, to make personal appearance. It had observed that Sahara's payback process did not look promising, as it did not comply with the direction to deposit Rs 25,700 crore.