NSEL investors' forum looks to Modi as beacon of hope

NSEL Investors Forum writes a letter to Modi giving him best wishes for the polls and wishing he will be the next prime minister

National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) investors waiting for money for three quarters have now found hope in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. The NSEL Investors Forum wrote a letter to Modi giving him best wishes for the polls and wishing he will be the next prime minister.

The letter complained about U P Agarwal, chairman of NSEL, saying there was conflict of interest as the auditors' role in the NSEL fraud had also been questioned; Agarwal was the president of ICWAI when the Satyam fraud had happened, and he had not taken steps against auditors of Satyam then.

The forum also wrote a letter to the Reserve Bank Governor, suggesting he direct banks to caution against lending against warehouse receipts. It also said it would be prudent for the banking system to independently verify all receipts for corresponding stocks. Also, banks should take action against borrowers misusing banking channels for loans and immediately freeze their limits and recall dues.

The forum wrote a letter to Jignesh Shah, group chief executive of the Financial Technologies (India) Limited, or FTIL, saying the talks of settlement with investors by paying them Rs 1,100 crore, or 20 per cent of the money lost, had not been concluded and they be paid faster.

The forum wrote a letter to Shah saying Ravi Sheth, promoter of Great Eastern Shipping, Godrej Foods, etc; Bharat Sheth, promoter of Great Eastern Shipping and Blackstone Capital cannot alienate FTIL from the NSEL scam. The forum also warned any attempt by FTIL shareholders to vitiate the recovery process for investors would be met with stiff resistance and any bid to takeover or merge FTIL with other big business houses could not be fructified "without taking the 13,000 affected families on board."