| Bring ₹ 10,000 cr to get interim bail: SC to Roy |
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New Delhi, 26 March Setting conditions for grant of interim bail to Sahara group chief Subrata Roy, in the city's Tihar jail since March 4, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said the group would have to pay ₹ 10,000 crore — ₹ 5,000 crore in cash to be deposited with the Court and an equal amount in bank guarantee from a publicsector bank in favour of the Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi). The Court passed the order in a contempt case after examining the fresh proposal given by the group on Tuesday. The order, though, noted the proposal was not in accordance with its earlier orders. "We make it clear that this order is passed to facilitate the contemnors to further raise the balance amount for compliance with the Court's orders." The order also said Subrata Roy and two directors of the group should be released forthwith if they complied with the conditions. The amount deposited should then be released to Sebi. The Sahara lawyers pleaded it would be difficult to raise the huge amount if Roy was in jail. He could pay ₹ 2,500 crore but raising funds beyond that level would require the participation of others in the company, they said. But the Court rejected these arguments and refused to modify its order. Besides, doubts over the fate of Roy and the two directors remained, as Sebi counsel Arvind Datar told the Court the proposal was " unworkable" and there were " practical difficulties". Datar will elaborate on the problems on Thursday afternoon, at another special sitting. The Bench of judges K S Radhakrishnan and JS Khehar allowed Sebi to respond to the Sahara proposal on Thursday, observing " Sebi has much to say about the proposal". On Sahara lawyer C A Sundaram's submission that it would be difficult to raise the required money if the freezing order on the group's bank accounts was not lifted, the judges asked him to make an application by Thursday, specifying which accounts should be allowed to operate. The Court could not pass a vague wholesale order, the judges observed. Turn to Page 19 > Court unhappy with Sahara offer; order only to facilitate refund to investors SAHARA HOUSING |Development rights for 313 acres of Aamby Valley land (bought for about ₹ 1,386 cr) |26% stake in a 106- acre Versova project ( bought for about ₹ 1,479 cr) |90- 95% stake in 10 Sahara group SPVs with 10 projects in 10 cities ( bought for ₹ 233 cr) |40% stake in project on identified land parcels in Lucknow ( worth ₹ 11 cr) |₹ 1,236- cr equity shares in Aamby Valley |₹ 204- cr preference shares in SIHL and SHICL |All accounts and investments of SHICL in all branches of all banks |All other immovable and movable properties owned by SHICL Source: Sebi order SAHARA INDIA REAL ESTATE |Development rights for 707- acre Aamby Valley land (bought for about ₹ 3,459 cr) |Development rights for 186 acres in Delhi and Gurgaon ( bought for ₹ 1,436 cr) |33% stake bought for ₹ 1,848 cr in a Versova project |90- 95% stake bought for ₹ 1,105 cr in SPVs holding 4,378 acres |40% stake worth ₹ 5,207 cr in Aamby Valley |₹ 1,000- cr stakes in Lucknow- based projects |₹ 23- cr mutual fund units DEEP FREEZE Sahara Housing and Sahara India Real Estate properties attached on Sebi order in Feb ' 13 COMPANIES 2 > >Many investors still have faith in Sahara |
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| RIL money- laundering charges under apex court's scanner |
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New Delhi, 26 March The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the government to file a report on the steps it had taken on the request of the Indian High Commission in Singapore for an investigation into the alleged ₹ 6,500crore investment by Biometrix Marketing and Strasbourg Holdings in four Reliance Industries Ltd ( RIL) companies. In August 2011, the Indian High Commission in Singapore had written to the government for a probe into investments made by the firm, " a one- room defunct company in Singapore". A Supreme Court Bench, hearing a public interest suit related to an increased price for natural gas produced from RIL's KG- D6 block, said: " We want to know what inquiry was done in the matter after the High Commission letter." RIL had on February 27 rejected the allegations of making foreign direct investments (FDI) in certain Indian companies through the Singapore- based Biometrix. "The investments by Biometrix were open, transparent and perfectly legitimate transactions in full compliance with the extant regulations. These investments in the Indian companies were made by Biometrix out of loans raised from ICICI Bank, Singapore branch. ICICI Bank has confirmed this fact to the regulators. Regulatory authorities have fully investigated the matter and have found no substance in the allegations of money laundering. The insinuation that this money was from " gold plating" of KG- D6 is completely irresponsible and false," the company had said in a statement. The RIL statement had clarified that allegations had been previously made during judicial proceedings in the Delhi High Court and had been appropriately responded to. "Our legal advisor, Atul Dayal, was neither the owner nor director of Biometrix, and Biometrix has filed its balance sheets and income- tax returns in each year with the regulatory authorities in Singapore. The allegations that ill- gotten laundered money or profits have either been made or that these have been deposited in the accounts of Mr Mukesh Ambani through Singapore, or otherwise, are false and are treated by us with the contempt they deserve," the RIL statement had said. Turn to Page 19 > COMPANIES, P3 RIL bags two offshore blocks in Myanmar After trimming its international oil & gas portfolio over the past fewyears, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has again gone back to expanding it. The company has bagged two blocks — M17 and M18 — in Myanmar offshore block bidding round, 2013, by that country's ministry of energy. Both the blocks were located offshore in the Moattama basin of Myanmar in water depths of up to 3,000 ft and together encompassed an area of 27,600 sq km, RIL said in a press statement. |
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"The High Commission had said all this money had gone into the Reliance group of companies in India with a major chunk going to Reliance Gas Transportation Infrastructure Ltd, which is a 100 per cent owned by Mukesh Ambani personally," he added. |
| Niira Radia's firms to be prosecuted: SFIO tells SC |
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New Delhi, 26 March The Serious Fraud Investigating Office ( SFIO) has told the Supreme Court that it is all set to prosecute various Vaishnavi group companies, owned by former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia for alleged violation of the Companies Act. In an affidavit filed before the apex court, SFIO said the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) had granted sanction and filing of prosecution against the companies was under process. SFIO, which comes under the ministry, has the mandate to probe white- collar crimes and frauds. "The filing of prosecution by SFIO as directed by MCA is under progress. Sanctions have been accorded by the MCA against various Vaishnavi group companies for filing prosecution under the Companies Act," the affidavit said, giving details of various provisions of the Companies Act, allegedly violated by the group firms. The agency also informed the court that it has completed the probe against Vaishnavi Corporate Communications and its eight group companies and the final investigation report was given to MCA on January 22. The agency said on the direction of MCA, it had also sent its reports to the Central Bureau of Investigation and the income tax department for taking action on their part. "The ministry vide letter dated February 5 issued instructions to SFIO for filing prosecution under various charges under the Companies Act made out in the investigation report. MCA has also directed the SFIO to forward acopy of the report to the IT Department and the CBI for necessary action at their end. "SFIO has further been advised to forward the relevant extract of the report to the Registrar of Stamps, Department of Revenue, Government of Haryana for examination of stamp duty violation," it said. Apart from Vaishnavi Corporate Communications, other companies which have come under SFIO scanner are Vaishnavi Advisory Services, Leisure Club India, Claro Consultancy, Magic Airlines, Crownmart International India, Maansi Agro, Vitcom Consulting and Neucom Consulting. SFIO said that ministry of corporate affairs has granted sanction and filing of prosecution against the companies is under proces |
| Kotak Mahindra launches social bank account Jifi |
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Mumbai, 26 March Kotak Mahindra Bank has launched Jifi, a fully- integrated social bank account with youth as the target segment. Jifi transcends digital banking by seamlessly incorporating social networking platforms such as Twitter and Facebook with mainstream banking, the bank said. Jifi is a zero- interest current account with no minimum balance conditions, and can be opened with an initial payment of ₹ 5,000. All balances over ₹ 25,000 automatically move into term deposits at applicable interest rates. Opening a Jifi account is triggered by a self- invite by signing up through Facebook or email. KV S Manian, president (consumer banking) at Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited, said: "Jifi is a unique digital account that integrates social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook for secure and seamless on- the- go information. With Jifi, the first- of- itskind digital account, Kotak takes banking to the next orbit by providing a hasslefree proposition to tech- savvy persons who prefer to stay online at all times." Jifi also has a loyalty point programme encourages high level of interactivity among account holders. In addition to transacting on social media platforms, customers can transact through net banking and the Kotak Mobile Banking app. Jifi customers have access to all conventional bank offerings as well, which include pan- India branch and ATM network, ' platinum' debit card, all- India toll- free number, net card and net banking access, etc. "As far as the security features are concerned, if the Facebook or Twitter account of the customer is hacked, then the hacker will be at the most able to see the reward points of the customers and use those points. But they will not be able to do any transactions or check the bank balance of the customer. The customers banking details are fully secure and cannot be seen by the hacker. For transactions, the customer has to log in to net banking," said Deepak Sharma, executive vice- president and headdigital initiatives, at Kotak Mahindra Bank. |
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