Securities market regulator SEBI on Monday said it has started action to recover Rs.49,100 crore due to investors from PACL Ltd and its promoters/directors.
In a statement, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said it has initiated recovery proceedings on December 11 against PACL and nine promoters/directors to recover Rs.49,100 crore along with further interest and costs.
The defaulting promoter/directors include Tarlochan Singh, Sukhdev Singh, Gurmeet Singh, Subrata Bhattacharya, Nirmal Singh Bhangoo and Uppal Devinder Kumar.
"The recovery proceedings have been initiated for their failure to comply with the directions of SEBI vide order dated August 22, 2014 wherein SEBI had directed the defaulters to wind up the schemes, and refund money to the investors within a period of three months from the date of the order," the statement said.
As a part of the recovery proceedings, the regulator has attached all bank and demat accounts and mutual funds folios of the defaulters with immediate effect and communicated the same to all the banks, depositories and mutual fund houses.
SEBI has asked all the banks/ financial institutions/depositories or any other persons holding assets of the defaulters not to part with the same and report the same to the recovery officer, at SEBI's northern regional Office, New Delhi.
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The case against PACL goes back to 1997 when it mobilised funds from investors.
The market regulator on a complaint in 1999 asked the company to comply with its collective investment scheme regulations but PACL went to the Rajasthan High Court claiming that its scheme does not fall under the definition of collective investment scheme.
While PACL got a favourable verdict in the high court, the SEBI appealed to the Supreme Court which upheld the constitutional validity of its regulations.
The apex court also directed SEBI to investigate the matter and take appropriate action.
After conducting inquiry, SEBI in 2014 ordered PACL and its promoters and directors to wind up the company's existing collective investment schemes and refund the monies to the investors.
The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on August 12, 2015 dismissed the appeal by the defaulters and directed them to refund the monies to investors within three months.
As the defaulters failed to comply with the SAT orders, SEBI has initiated the recovery proceedings.