CBI to fast-track probe against SEBI, RoC officials in Saradha case that sparked political row

A multi-crore scheme run by Karnataka-based I-Monetary Advisory (IMA) and its group entities allegedly duped00000 of people by promising higher returns using Islamic ways of investment. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is currently investigating the case and has filed at least three FIRs. (File image of the CBI headquarters) The Central Bureau of Investigation is likely to expedite investigation against the officials of Securities and Exchange Board of India and Registrar of Companies (RoC) in the Saradha chit fund case, sources said. The move comes as the agency prepares to file chargesheets in the controversial scam, they said. The agency is basing its investigation on the SFIO report that found irregularities in the functioning of executives belonging to the market regulator and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) under which the RoC falls. The CBI investigation comes even as the Saradha controversy created a major political turmoil in the form of a standoff between the Centre and the West Bengal government. The CBI is investigating Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, who also heads the Special Investigation Team on the chit fund scam. Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had refused to let the CBI officials approach Kumar, alleging political vendetta and what followed was an over two-day-long dharna. The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Rajeev Kumar to appear before the CBI at a neutral place at Shillong. But it refrained the CBI from arresting Kumar. The report In 2013, SEBI had ordered prosecution against Saradha Real Estate, and barred Sudipta Sen — CMD of Saradha Group — from accessing capital market. But the regulator, the SFIO report found out, had not followed the same process for the chit fund company's other units that were also alleged to be involved in the scam. The SFIO report said "It is pertinent to mention that SEBI did not pass similar order in respect of the other three companies, namely STTPL, SGRHPL and SHPL (including the two cases STTPL and SGRHPL covered by this investigation report) despite the fact that prima facie the method of collecting funds was the same in respect of all these cases”. STTPL is Saradha Tours and Travels Private Limited SGRHPL stands for Saradha Garden Resorts and Hotel Private Limited and SHPL is Saradha housing Private Limited The SFIO report further said that RoC Kolkata was not acting on the complaints it had received from deposit holders of Saradha. According to documents, there were complaints against 14 Saradha Group companies. Debashish Bandopadhya was the RoC of Kolkata from 2007 to 2014. MCA had ordered investigations into the affairs of about 57 companies, including Saradha, Rose Valley and Vibgyor. But the starting point had been Saradha, which is accused of illegally collecting about Rs 2,5000000000 from investors. MCA's internal note shows that the then RoC of Kolkata was slow in conducting inspection even after six months of being ordered to do so. The probe gained momentum only when Saradha scam was busted in media in April 2013. The then RoC of Kolkata also ignored the complaints by Parliamentarian AH Choudhary, who later withdrew the letter he had sent to the Prime Minister's Office. The Scam The scam came out in public in early 2013. It involved the Kolkata-based Saradha Group, which was alleged to have collected deposits of up to Rs 2,5000000000 from the public, but defaulted when it came to payments. Debjani Majumdar, a key associate of Sudipta Sen, recorded her statement before SFIO on February 2, 2014. In her statement she said that “total amount of approximately Rs 16-180000000 has been made to Debabrata Sarkar for settlement with SEBI and RBI. Around Rs 30000000 was paid to Jinesh Vanzara, Chartered Accountant and President of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India for managing with the income tax authorities. Total amount of Rs 2-30000000 has been given to Ramesh Gandhi for managing with the RoC people." Debabrata Sarkar was an executive of the East Bengal football club. In his statement, Sudipta Sen said that “Ms. Debjani Mukherjee was custodian of the full finances of the group companies and might have siphoned off funds from the group. Monthly payments were made to Debabrata Sarkar at a rate of Rs 7000000 for four years for settlement of the matter with SEBI and RBI. Besides, payment of Rs 1500000 per month was made to Sh. Ramesh Gandhi for four years for looking after the corporate affairs of the group”. Ramesh Gandhi was looking after the corporate affairs department of Saradha Group. The report also found out that Saradha had made payments in the form of cheques to Revlon Commercials Private Limited whose director Kunal Jhunjhunwala was questioned by the SFIO. It was alleged that the cheques were used to pay off the officials at SEBI and RoC. In his statement, Jhunjhunwala said that Revlon had 16 transactions with Saradha companies. But SFIO's scrutiny of the transaction documents furnished by Kunal Jhunjhunwala showed that the address shown in the invoices didn't have any presence of Saradha Group. SFIO had recommended the case to the CBI, which is investigating the matter. The MCA also referred these matters to CBI.