Sahara 'speechless' and 'shocked' at SAT order, to appeal in SC

It said the SAT order was 'unbelievably shocking' and was in contradiction to the views expressed by many authorities earlier on similar issues. Describing the SAT order asking its two companies to repay investors as shocking, the Sahara group today said it will appeal against the order in the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, SAT directed two of Subrata Roy's companies, Sahara Commodity Services Corporation, formerly Sahara India Real Estate Corporation and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation, that Sebi's 23 June order to return all the money they had collected through optionally fully convertible debentures (OFCDs) stands. They have been given six weeks to comply and return the money. "We have decided to go in for appeal against the impunged Securities and Appellate Tribunal (SAT) order in the Hon'ble Supreme Court," Sahara said in a statement. It said the SAT order was "unbelievably shocking" and was in contradiction to the views expressed by many authorities earlier on similar issues. "We have been left speechless and astonished to see the verdict of SAT. Our firm belief is that nobody can prove right as wrong," it said. The statement came in wake of the SAT order which rejected its appeal against Sebi verdict and asked the Sahara group entities to refund the money raised through OFCDs to investors within six weeks. OFCDs are debentures which investors can convert into shares at their option. While dismissing the appeal, SAT held that Sebi has jurisdiction over such fund raising schemes. The group, however, did not mention the quantum of amount which it has to repay to the investors in the wake of SAT order. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had in June asked the two Sahara group entities to return money collected from millions of investors through financial instrument OFCD citing violation of regulatory norms. View Sahara's response to Sebi's order below Agencies