Five years on, Sebi quest to find Sahara investors unsuccessful
MUMBAI: Roughly five years ago, the Supreme Court ordered the Sahara Group to deposit around ₹24,000 crore with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
To date, Sahara has deposited ₹11,798 crore, which has grown to ₹14,487 crore on account of interest, with the regulator.
And till March 31, Sebi managed to return only ₹85.03 crore to investors, according to two people who have seen the annual accounts tabled by the regulator at its board meeting on June 21.
The number is believable because Sebi’s annual report for 2015-16 said it had refunded ₹55.72 crore; and its annual report for 2014-15 stated an amount of ₹42 crore.
And so, for another year, Sebi’s quest for Sahara’s elusive investors has remained unsuccessful. This, despite efforts by the regulator, including ads in newspapers, to find them.
“In 2013, a team of Sebi officials were sent to the north and north-eastern parts of the country to find the bondholders and request them to file refund claims,” said the first person on condition of anonymity.
A Sebi spokesperson did not respond to an email seeking comchief ment. A Sahara spokesperson declined comment, saying that the matter was “subjudice”.
The Sahara Group has maintained that it has refunded 95% of the bond holders.
The Sahara case relates to two of the conglomerate’s firms raising ₹24,029 crore from 29.6 million investors. Sebi said the fund-raising violated its public issue norms and ordered a refund in 2011. The order was upheld by the Supreme Court in August 2012.
According to a May 23 Mint report, Sahara’s total dues with interest exceed ₹47,000 crore. In April, the company had given an undertaking to the Supreme Court that it would deposit ₹1,500 crore by June 15 in the Sebi-Sahara account to keep Sahara Subrata Roy out of custody. The firm has so far deposited ₹790.18 crore. On June 19, the apex court granted an extension to the Sahara Group for paying the balance of ₹709.82 crore.
A bench headed by justice Dipak Misra said it would be compelled to send Roy back into custody if the company failed to pay by July 4.
At that time, Sahara’s counsel Kapil Sibal told the court that the company had sold its London hotel Grosvenor House to GH Equity UK Ltd for £575 million (around ₹4,717 crore) to clear its dues.
Vinod Sharma, official liquidator of the Bombay high court, told the court that terms and conditions for the auction of the Pune-based Aamby Valley project had been filed. On May 23, Mint had reported that the value of Aamby Valley has been pegged at ₹43,000 crore.
On April 17, the court had directed the auction of Aamby Valley after Sahara failed to deposit ₹5,092.64 crore with Sebi. On April 27, the court had accepted two post-dated cheques worth a total of ₹2,000 crore as an assurance of payment from Roy.
The two cheques, dated June 15 and July 15, were for ₹1,500 crore and ₹552 crore, respectively. Roy will be sent to jail if the cheques are dishonoured.