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MSTC Limited, a central government-owned enterprise, will conduct the auction of assets owned by Saradha group, which was involved in a multi-crore chit-fund scam. The Shyamal Sen Commission had recommended the auction to compensate investors who lost money in the Saradha chit-fund scam.
According to officials, in the first phase, vehicles and three channels held under its group company, Broadcast Worldwide Ltd (BWW), will be put on the block.
"All Saradha properties have been vested with the commisson, and we have recommended auctioning of all movable and immovable properties. The state finance department is signing an agreement with MSTC to conduct the auction," Justice Shyamal Sen told Business Standard.
The three channels that would be auctioned initially include TARA group of channels, including TARA Newz, TARA Muzik and TV Southasia. After Saradha went bust, the channels were run by its employees. As the licences of the channels are due for renewal, the employees approached the commission. Taking into consideration the employees' concern, the commission decided to auction the channels.
Besides, Sudipta Sen-controlled Saradha Media used to run other media outfits such as Bengal Post and Sakalbela. At the time of closing down, it had 10 media outfits that include news television channels, newspapers and magazines. While some of them are shut, some are run by employees. "A call will be taken on those as well, later," said Sen.
So far, the commission has recovered more than 250 vehicles and a number of fixed assets of substantial value owned by Saradha. Initially, about 64 vehicles will be auctioned.
Earlier, the state government had decided to form a Rs 500-crore corpus to repay investors by raising tax. The commission, in its interim report to the West Bengal government, has quantified the size of the scam at Rs 2,060 crore.
The government has so far issued cheques worth Rs 43 crore to 10,400 victims in the first phase. In the second phase, it plans to issue cheques worth Rs 80 crore to 166,000 investors.
