INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Sahara group has actually said that funds worth Rs 24,000 crore are lying unused with SEBINew Delhi: Sahara Group on Wednesday stated it is
unreasonable to ask it to deposit more cash as funds worth Rs 24,000 crore are lying unutilised with markets regulator Securities and
Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for the last 9 years and it was injuring business interests of the group.The statement comes a day after SEBI
chairman Ajay Tyagi had said that Sahara is yet to fully deposit the cash bought by the Supreme Court in August 2012 which the group has
actually up until now provided only around Rs 15,000 crore while the overall amount due to be deposited is Rs 25,781 crore.According to
SEBI's 2020-21 yearly report, the regulator had paid back just Rs 129 crore to shareholders which it was keeping an escrow account with over
Rs 23,000 crore.In a statement, Sahara Group stated Supreme Court had purchased on August 31, 2012 to deposit principal amount and interest
presuming that every depositor needs to be paid which was not the case and this came to the knowledge of the court within three months' time
from pronouncing the order
The Supreme Court took note of the truth that the number of complaintants who were still to be paid back, were far less
It is an inaccurate statement from Sebi to ask Sahara to deposit more, the group said.It, further, stated the regulator after offering four
rounds of ads in 154 newspapers in the last 9 years throughout the country has repaid just Rs 129 crore to the investors of Sahara.In its
last ad that was released in March 2018, SEBI made it clear that it would not entertain any additional claim gotten after July 2018, Sahara
It implies that for SEBI there disappear claimants to be paid which is due to the reality that majority of financiers were already repaid by
Sahara; and as per the order of Supreme Court, the amount of Rs 24,000 crore will ultimately return to Sahara so there is no question of
additional payment, the group stated
It is unreasonable to ask Sahara to transfer any cash further as this big quantity of Rs 24,000 crore is lying unutilised with Sebi for the
last 9 years which is not only injuring the interest of Sahara as a company organisation but also impeding the financial growth of our
nation especially in these screening times, it added.The group maintained that more than 95 percent of its bondholders financiers have
currently been repaid.Sahara stated it transferred more than Rs 24,000 crore, including interest, considering that 2012 till date in
Sahara-Sebi escrow account just to honour the order of the court as the majority of its investors are already paid back
These payments are in fact double payment against single liability, initially the repayment was made to investors by Sahara and then again
the equivalent amount is sent to SEBI, it noted.On Tuesday, Mr Tyagi stated SEBI is just following the Supreme Court orders of 2012 on the
matter and the business is yet to totally deposit the court-ordered amount with them.He had likewise stated the regulator has provided many
advertisements asking investors/ shareholder to come forward and who have actually made their claims have actually currently been paid
According to SEBI's yearly report, it was holding Rs 23,191 crore of Sahara Group bondholders' cash since March 2021 and the said quantity
was held in an escrow account.The amount in the account consisted of Rs 15,473 crore recovered and the interest on it, the report said.
