Sebi asks Moral Group companies to invite claims from public on unpaid dues

Markets regulator Sebi has directed four companies of Moral Group and their directors to invite claims and complaints from public regarding unpaid dues for the companies' non-convertible debentures (NCDs).

Moral Devcon Ltd, Moral Health & Personal Care Ltd, Moral Commotrade Ltd and Moral Infrastructure Ltd are the companies which have been directed to invite claims, along with their directors -- Arun Kumar, Ajay Kumar Sharma and Gyaneshwar Sharma.

Sebi noted that the four companies raised a total of about Rs 16 crore by issuing non-convertible debentures (NCDs) during 2010 to 2014 to over 25,000 investors without complying with the Companies Act and Issue and Listing of Debt Securities Regulations.

 

Accordingly, the regulator in October 2017 had directed the firms and their senior officials to refund the illegally mobilised money to investors, and also barred them from accessing securities market for four years from the date of completion of refunds.

However, in their submissions, the firms said that they had already paid an amount of nearly Rs 20 crore to all the investors in March 2014 through cash, and also submitted CDs to Sebi containing contact details of the investors.

"Since the CDs contain thousands of files, it is not possible to verify whether the CDs actually contain soft copies of documents pertaining to each investor," Sebi said in an order dated March 20.

It further added that though the firms have submitted documents in respect of investors, "the same cannot be accepted as sufficient evidence of refund."

Also, contrary to the companies' claim that they have refunded money to all the investors, four investors had written to Sebi denying receipt of refunds.

In these circumstances "it would be appropriate to invite claims for any unpaid dues on the companies' NCDs through a newspaper publication," Sebi said, and directed the firms to come out with newspaper publication inviting complaints or claims within two months.

The newspaper publication shall also contain an advisory informing the investors to separately forward a copy of such complaints or claims to Sebi, the regulator added.

Among other directions, the companies and their directors shall remain barred from the securities market till further orders, Sebi said.