Subrata Roy death: Govt looks to transfer unclaimed funds of Sahara-Sebi refund account

The government is reportedly looking into the legality of transferring the unclaimed funds of Sahara-Sebi Refund Account to the Consolidated Fund of India. It is expected to have a provision for investors who make their claims later. This decision comes after Sahara Group founder Subrata Roy passed away last week.

According to a report in The Economic Times, there have been barely any claimants who have come forward in the past 11 years since the refund account was established. The daily quoted an unnamed official who said that an option to transform the amount to the Consolidated Fund of India with a separate account to refund investors would be explored.

If after verification of details furnished, Sebi is unable to find the whereabouts of all or any of its subscribers then the amount collected from such subscribers would be appropriated to the government.

The funds are expected to be used for pro-poor programmes or public welfare, the report stated.

As of March 31, the total amount recovered from the group and deposited in the state-run banks was Rs 25,163 crore, after Rs 138 crore was paid to 17,526 applications involving 48,326 accounts.

Rs 5,000 crore was transferred to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies for disbursement against legitimate dues of genuine depositors. Home minister Amit Shah had launched a dedicated portal for Sahara depositors to facilitate the refund process.

Subrata Roy was one of the biggest names in India Inc and one of the most famous rags-to-riches stories in India. Sahara was once the sponsor of India’s national cricket team, and its assets at one point included New York’s Plaza Hotel, and Grosvenor House in London. He was also the co-owner of the former Force India Formula One team.

However, his troubles began in 2010 when Sebi asked two Sahara entities to not mobilise funds from equity markets or from issuance of any security to the public. Roy was subsequently arrested in 2014 after he failed to appear in a contempt case, which arose from the non-refunding of over Rs 20,000 crore to investors by his companies.

Sahara was asked to deposit an estimated Rs 24,000 crore with Sebi for further refund to the investors. The group had said that they have refunded 95 per cent of the investors directly and this amounted to “double payment”.

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