Posted on: 06-03-14 11:47:15
http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/the-man-who-nailed-sahara/article5754009.ece?homepage=true
When the Supreme Court castigated Sahara Parivar chief Subarata Roy, and sent him to judicial custody on Tuesday, one man must have finally permitted himself a smile — K. M. Abraham, former board member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the man who investigated the Sahara scam.
If the case survived the numerous obfuscations, dilatory tactics and twists and turns of the last three years, it was entirely due to Dr. Abraham’s watertight order of June 2011. The 99-page order that he put together under conditions of extreme pressure and stress was scholarly and extremely well-researched at one level even as it brilliantly demolished all the false defences put up by Sahara’s lawyers.
Without saying so in so many words, the order highlighted that the two companies — Sahara India Real Estate Corporation (SIREC) and Sahara Housing and Investment Corporation (SHIC) — may actually have been laundering money in the names of fictitious investors. The Supreme Court alluded to this in its observations on Tuesday. Sahara questioned SEBI’s power to regulate optionally fully convertible debentures (OFCDs), and also contended that the funds were raised through private placements and, therefore, not under the market regulator’s purview. SEBI’s order pointed out that the definition of ‘securities’ under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act is an inclusive one and not exhaustive and that OFCDs would come under its purview.
Dr. Abraham’s order also held that an offer made to 50 or more persons ceases to be a private placement under the Companies Act. SIREC alone had about 6.6 million investors in its OFCD scheme. Complete details of these investors were not available with SIREC, and Dr. Abraham’s random test of four addresses of ‘investors’ in Mumbai revealed that only two existed and even these two had nothing to do with the Sahara group. This revelation was important to demolish Sahara’s argument that this was a private placement meant for people associated with the group.
Dr. Abraham’s job was not easy because the data provided by SIREC was in the form of scanned images that were not amenable to analysis on a computer. The other company, SHIC, failed to share any information with SEBI. Not surprising then that he commented in his order: “There seems to be an unstated resolve on the part of the two companies not to part with data in any meaningful manner. The thrust seems to be on concealment and obfuscation rather than openness and transparency.”
It must have been gratifying for Dr. Abraham, who is now Additional Chief Secretary, Kerala, when the Supreme Court quoted extensively from his order in its judgment of August 2012, ordering Sahara to refund its investors. After all the hard work, the pressures that he had to endure and the controversies, it is now vindication time for him.
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Fido.
Is it a coincidence or they birds of the same feather that Sahara is the sponsor for BCCI, who too are neck deep in scandals. BCCI, IPL and their sponsors the super rich speak only in millions of dollars. There is nothing good in it for the people of India. Added to this is now the allegations of betting and match fixing. Even the name of captain Dhoni has not been left out as mentioned by none other than an IPS officer on Headlines Today. It was on the fag end of the last and lost New Zealand tour. As expected, Dhoni did not take the Asia Cup owing to injury.
BCCI and their sponsor SAHARA, and SAHARA and their "investors", they all seem to have some link.
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No where in the English media they mentioned abt Abraham. Looks like Sahara has spread its tentacles. Roy is a close friend of Mulla Yadav and Big B. Thank god there are still good govt officers who do their job honestly. Else sahara would have escaped. They took one full page ads in number of newspapers across the country claiming that they were honest and clean. I think Big B's bahu is on the board of directors of Sahara group. No surprises here.
SEBI is still going thru the papers. There are thousands of benami names and investors. One way converting black to white, like the cricket tamasha.
Thanks for the summary folks, ! What a story ! I personally had high regard for this guy till date but I think somewhere in the way he took opinion of one of his rogue officer and paying for the mistake.
Quote:
Originally posted by MKBLR
No where in the English media they mentioned abt Abraham.
.
This is what is most baffling. I too haven't seen his name/face in newspaper or on TV. May be the media are kind to someone from their profession.
As you have rightly pointed out all that the english news media want is full page or equivalent ads.
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Quote:
Originally posted by MKBLR
SEBI is still going thru the papers. There are thousands of benami names and investors. One way converting black to white, like the cricket tamasha.
Remember a decade ago Sahara celebrated their family wedding in Lucknow and the whose who of the super rich and Bollywood were in attendance. Some even drove the bride's and groom's cars to the venue.
How are they going to "return" the money if there are 1000s of fictitious names. May be the investors will cozy up to Modi when he comes to power and the whole scandal will be given a quiet burial.
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Along with we can read this news item also to understand what is being done to today's India.
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/bonded-to-brick-kilns-migrants-from-odisha-may-forfeit-vote/article
Tied to brick-kilns in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka because of a ‘debt-bondage,’ more than three lakh migrant workers from the western districts of Odisha will miss out on voting in the Lok Sabha polls.
Odisha is going to the polls in two phases, on April 10 and 17. However, most migrant workers from these districts must have to slog away at brick-making till mid-June because they have taken a loan from labour agents, promising to work from November to June. A mere hint from them at leave of absence for voting is provoking brick manufacturers.
Jagannath Banchoor, along with 200 others, is working in a brick-kiln in the Ellapuram block of Tiruvallur district in Tamil Nadu. “Many of us came to the brick-kiln in November-December last. None will be allowed to leave before June 15. Sensing that political parties might contact us, the employers have asked us not to take phone calls,” Banchoor told The Hindu on the phone.
According to official data, the State government has granted licence to 3,046 contractors for taking 1,18,451 labourers to other States. Back in 2001, 1.44 lakh people from the districts of the Kalahandi-Balangir-Koraput (KBK) region migrated for work.
According to Umi Daniel, head of the Migration Information and Resource Centre (MiRC), Aide et Action South Asia, more than 60,000 families (around three lakh people) migrate from the districts of Bolangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Bargarh, Sonepur and Sambalpur every year. “If migration from all other districts is taken into account, the population that migrates to work in brick kilns and the construction sector will not be less than four-five lakh. Around three lakhs of them must be eligible voters,” Mr. Daniel said.
At the same time, migration within Odisha has assumed dangerous proportions.
Around Bhubaneswar, at least 4,000 brick-kilns have come up, both legally and illegally. They engage thousands of people from the districts of Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Ganjam, Bolangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi and Bargarh.
Migrant workers within the State seem better off than those stuck in brick-kilns of other States. While many brick manufacturers here are reluctantly ready to give workers leave for a couple of days to vote, many others fear they will not return once allowed to go.
At Bingharpur, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, Bhagya Nayak, 35, from Paladhuajali in Ganjam district, said: “The local Sarpanch may send a bus to take us for voting. Of the 700-odd families of our village, members of 400 families are working in different brick-kilns here.”
Mr. Daniel said: “Migrant workers from Ganjam have a better social network. They could collectively bargain for a few days of leave to go to their villages. But migrants from western Odisha districts have slipped into bondage. There is little chance of these workers getting freedom before June and July.”
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