Wednesday, December 30, 2015

SEBI asks two companies Multi Purpose Bios India and Prayas Projects India to refund investors money

 New Delhi, Dec 29:

Cracking a whip on illegal money pooling schemes, markets regulator SEBI on Tuesday asked two companies —— Multi Purpose Bios India and Prayas Projects India —— and their directors to refund money collected from the public.

According to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Multi Purpose Bios collected Rs. 5.97 crore from more than 1,460 people through redeemable preference shares between financial year 2007-08 and 2011-12.

While, Prayas Projects raised Rs. 86.32 lakh from 154 investors through issue of non-convertible debentures during 2011-12 and 2012-13.

The refund has to be made along “with an interest of 15 per cent per annum compounded at half yearly intervals, from the date when the repayments became due to the investors till the date of actual payment,” SEBI said in two similar worded orders.

According to the market regulator, the funds raised by the two Kolkata-based companies through the issues amounted to a public offer as it was made to more than 49 persons and as a result required mandatory listing on the stock exchanges.

The regulator has directed the companies and its directors to “jointly and severally, shall forthwith refund the money collected by the company through the issuance of redeemable preference shares“.

Besides, the companies and its promoters and directors have been barred from the securities markets for four years and the ban will continue till the completion of refund to investors.

In case Multi Purpose Bios India and Prayas Projects India fail to comply with these directives, SEBI would make a reference to state government or local police to register a case against the company for fraud.

Besides, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs would initiate the process of winding up of the company.

The regulator said that the order will come into force with immediate effect.

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Saiprasad investment scam - 2000 crores fraud by Bhapkar


Saiprasad investment scam - 2000 crores fraud by Bhapkar - cheated 20 lacs peoples

Saiprasad Properties limited
Saiprasad Foods Limited


Cops raid Ponzi firm in Phulbani



BHUBANESWAR: Police on Sunday seized several documents during a raid on Pune-based Sai Prasad Properties Ltd's Phulbani branch office in Kandhamal district and detained its accountant. The accountant was identified as Rakesh Pradhan, police said.

Police swung into action after people informed the police that the officials of the Ponzi firm were trying to transfer its documents from the locked office in Phulbani. The branch office of the company was locked in February 2013 when the district police launched raids on chit fund companies.

"The preliminary investigation revealed that the company was not collecting deposits after the raids started in February 2013," said SP (Berhampur) K V Singh. Before that the company might have collected money from investors, he said.

"We are trying to find out the amount of deposits, number of depositors and area of operations," said IIC, Phulbani Town police station, Umakanta Pradhan.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Swiss accounts: Yash Birla, City Limo chief, Ponty son-in-law among five new names


The names of these 5 "Indian nationals" have been made public in Switzerland's Federal Gazette with regard to details sought about them by the Indian authorities.


Industrialist Yashovardhan Birla, City Limousine chairman Sayed Mohamed Masood and his wife Chand Kauser Mohamed Masood are among five Indian nationals with Swiss bank accounts whose names have been made public in Switzerland’s official gazette with regard to ongoing tax probes in India.

(According to PTI, the other two are Gurjit Singh Kochar, son-in-law of late realty baron Ponty Chadha, and Delhi-based businesswoman Ritika Sharma).

On Monday, Sneh Lata Sawhney, wife of Sawhney Tyres managing director Bhushan Lal Sawhney, and Sangita Sawhney were named.

Details of the money lying in Yashovardhan Birla’s account have not yet been made public — his name figured in the list of HSBC, Geneva account holders, published in February this year by The Indian Express as part of its ‘Swiss leaks’ investigation.

When The Indian Express sought Birla’s comment, a spokesperson for the Yash Birla Group, in an email response, said Birla had no individual bank account in his name or under his control. This, the spokesperson said, had been explicitly confirmed earlier by the Swiss bank in writing and the same had already been communicated to Indian tax authorities.

In January 2014, the Income-Tax department had searched the offices of the Yash Birla Group for alleged tax evasion.

Following the I-T probe, the economic offences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police filed an FIR against Birla Power Solutions Ltd, a Yash Birla Group company under sections 420 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly defaulting on repayment of fixed deposits to its investors. The company, according to police, had also defaulted on interest payment to investors. Police said the company owed around Rs 214 crore to 8,800 investors. Immovable properties of Birla Power Solutions, worth the same amount, were attached. The company said it raised money and paid investors.

Based on the EOW investigations, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched a probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). On January 19 this year, the adjudication authority of ED, in an order, said the company was diverting investor funds raised for a power project to unrelated land transactions.

According to the ED order, Birla Power Solutions Ltd, over a period of four years between March 2009 and March 2013, diverted Rs 180 crore of investor funds to six other group companies through multiple transactions involving eight bank accounts. Rejecting the allegations made by ED, the Yash Birla Group challenged the order before the appellate tribunal.

In the case of Masood, the ED had sought repatriation of funds in the case of Masood and his wife.

A senior ED official said at least US $1.25 million has been found in two Swiss accounts maintained by Masood and his firm.

“After obtaining information from the Swiss authorities on Masood, we have now placed a request with the Swiss government for repatriation of the money lying in Masood’s accounts. We are hopeful that our request, which is currently pending, will be accepted soon,” the ED official said.

Phone calls and text messages to Masood did not elicit a response until Tuesday evening.

The ED has registered a case under the PMLA against City Limousine and Masood for running an alleged ponzi scheme. It is alleged that two City Group companies, City Limousine and City Realcom, collected over Rs 500 crore from investors, promising unrealistic returns. The companies later defaulted on payment to investors, the ED said. The ED has attached movable and immovable properties of the companies and promoters to the tune of Rs 150 crore.

Indian names are being published in the Swiss federal gazette as a result of domestic references being sent by Indian tax authorities.

The references for which notices are being dispatched by Swiss authorities, following a change in Swiss procedural laws, include cases related to Indian HSBC Geneva account holders as well as others against whom authorities had established that assets existed in Switzerland but were not declared for taxation. The provisions of the Double Taxation Avoidance Treaty, signed by the two countries in 2011, paved the way for the current action.

Officials in the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said domestic references, with all documentation attached, had been sent to Switzerland for all 628 HSBC account holders, which had been received by India, as well as a large number of other references in evasion cases.

This number, sources said, could well be over 100 cases involving a large number of Indian businessmen and celebrities.

Under pressure from India and other countries, Swiss federal offices began dispatching notices in April to suspected tax evaders, asking them if they had objection to their account or asset purchase details being handed over to India. Recipients of notices have been given a month to send in replies. Should they decline authorisation for release of information, India has the right to appeal.

ED to attach $14 mn in bank accounts of City Limousine chairman in Singapore

ED to attach $14 mn in bank accounts of City Limousine chairman in Singapore

ED, which probes forex violations, had sent its team to Singapore in July this year to attach over $26 million lying in Masood’s accounts in two other banks.


The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is set to attach $14 million lying in two bank accounts of City Limousine chairman Sayed Mohamed Masood in Singapore. Masood is facing charges of money laundering, and the Singapore government has granted permission to attach his assets, according to ED officials. The accounts are in the branches of Bank Julius Baer and UBS.

The ED is probing a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against City Limousine and Masood for running an alleged ponzi scheme. It is alleged that two City Group companies — City Limousine and City Realcom — collected over Rs 1,000 crore from thousands of investors across the country by floating car rental schemes and promising unrealistic returns of up to 48 per cent on investments. In 2009, the companies defaulted on payment to investors and more than 42,000 cheques issued by it were dishonoured, the ED said.

In May, Masood and his wife Chand Kauser Mohamed Masood were named in Switzerland’s official gazette with regard to ongoing tax probes in India. They are among five Indian nationals with Swiss bank accounts whose names have been made public.

“This will be the first full attachment of overseas assets in a PMLA case. This fresh attachment in this case will take the total attached amount to about $40 million,” an official familiar with the development told The Indian Express.

ED, which probes forex violations, had sent its team to Singapore in July this year to attach over $26 million lying in Masood’s accounts in two other banks. In 2013, the competent authority in Singapore froze all his accounts following a Letter Rogatory (LR) by ED asking for its cooperation in the investigation.

LR is a formal request to a foreign court seeking judicial assistance in investigating an entity in another country.

Apart from this, the Swiss government that already allowed ED to attach $1.25 million in two Swiss accounts maintained by Masood and his firm in 2014, has now agreed to repatriate the funds to India and has told the enforcement agency to start the process for repatriation, according to ED sources. “The agency will now submit an application before the trial court seeking its nod for repatriation of funds,” said an ED official who did not wish to be named.

Prior to the ED probe, several FIRs were registered against Masood and his companies in Mumbai, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi for criminal conspiracy, cheating and breach of trust. In Chennai alone, at least 35,000 investors have filed claims with the Tamil Nadu Economic Offices Wing.

In October 2012, ED had issued 16 orders to attach moveable and immoveable properties worth over Rs 200 crore of the City Group of Companies, Masood, his associates as well as family members in India.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court transferred 132 cases pending against Masood in various courts across the country to a special court in Mumbai that deals with PMLA. The aim was to expedite trial in the City Limousine case. Masood is currently lodged in jail.​

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