In Depth Saradha Chit Fund Scam Rs.1700 Crore from Sudipta Sen to Kunal Ghosh and TMC Politicians
In Depth Saradha Chit Fund Scam Rs.1700 Crore to 30,000 Crore from Sudipta Sen to Kunal Ghosh and TMC Politicians
West Bengal
Kolkata
Saradha Group Scam Amount is between 1200 Crore or 1700 Crore or more than this as per media reports.
Sudipta Sen's 'investment business' made its debut in 2006.
In year, 2009 Group bought Television Channel 10 and became the household name in West Bengal.
In 2010, the group launched English daily, the Bengal Post, and a Bengali daily, Sakalbela.
Saradha Group is involved in
1)
Media - Bengal Post
2)
construction
3)
realty
4)
tours and travels
5)
agro development
Few names of Media companies run by Group
1)
Sakalbela
2)
Azad Hind
3)
Tara News
4)
Tara Muzic
5)
Tara Bangla
6)
Prabhat Varta
7)
Parama
8)
the Seven Sisters Post
Left government in Year 2009 passed a bill seeking to restrict chit fund operations but still status is pending law.
"Under the Chit Funds Act, 1982, chit fund businesses can be registered and regulated only by the respective State Governments. In case of failure of a chit fund business, the responsibility for winding up such a business also vests with the respective State Governments."
Remember Chit Funds means one day you will get cheated by the someone.
Government needs to ban the Chit Funds and Ponzi Schemes otherwise on the name of Chit Funds , Ponzi Schemes will keep working, and one after one Ponzi Scams will keep happening.
In the letter dated 2010, the Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Paul had asked the Centre to control the growth of Ponzi schemes in the state.
Sudipta Sen is the chairman-cum-managing director of the Saradha group.
He disappeared around April 13, as Saradha Group offices across West Bengal began to shut down
Many of his cheques issued by him started to bounced.
Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh, is Saradha Media's executive chairman
After the media uproar West Bengal government and police acted very fast and
Sudipta Sen was arrested from a hotel in Sonmarg, Kashmir after 13 days.
Also reportedly in police custody with him are his associates identified as Debjani Mukhopadhyay and Arvind Singh Chauhan both directors of the company.
Ms Debjani Mukhopadhyay joined Saradha Tours and Travels as a secretary in 2007. And soon became a director in the company.
Sudipta Sen, past includes a rumored plastic surgery and who allegedly has two, three, or four wives as per different media reports.
Sudipta Sen claimed he was blackmailed by the party's leaders of The Trinamool Congress
The Indian Express reported that the Saradha Group CMD has sent an 18-page letter to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The letter contains the names of several key politicians, officials, and legal experts who allegedly milked the company for money.
Srinjoy Bose is one of the TMC MPs allegedly named in the letter.
CNN IBN reported that Sen, in his letter, alleges that he forayed into the media business because he initially came under vicious attack from Bengal's Pratidin newspaper represented by TMC MP Kunal Ghosh and Srinjoy Bose.
Sen, in the letter, also writes that that he entered into an agreement with Pratidin, after he bought Channel 10 that he "shall pay Rs 60 lakh per month to Pratidin and apart from that Kunal Ghosh will also be appointed as the CEO of the channel at a salary of Rs 15 lakh per month".
Sen alleges that Pratidin assured him that because of his agreement, "they will protect my business from the state and central governments" and will grant him "smooth passage to chief minister Mamata Banerjee".
In the letter, Sen threatens to commit suicide as he is "feeling helpless because of unscrupulous persons and cheats" who have collected public money in his name. Sen says he "cannot live in a society where people call me cheat or fraud or use slang against me".
Media also reported that Sudipta Sen had bought one of Banerjee's paintings for Rs 1.86 crore (Rs 18.6 million) and had even 'donated' a hefty amount to one cabinet minister to felicitate Brazilian footballers in an exhibition football match in Kolkata in December.
Saradha Realty's name figured in a list of companies presented by Corporate Affairs Minister in the Lok Sabha last month against whom complaints of fraudulent fund raising activities have been received by the ministry.
A Public Interest Litigation has been filed in the Calcutta High Court for a CBI inquiry against the Saradha Group.
On April 22, 2013 in the High Court, Advocate Basabi Roy Chowdhury filed the PIL praying for a CBI probe to bring to book all involved in the alleged scam.
Her counsel Subroto Mukhopadhyay said the petitioner also prayed for the arrest of Kunal Ghosh
alleging that the scam amounted to Rs 30,000 crore.
Next Date of the PIL
The matter would come up for hearing again on May 3.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced a high-level inquiry and SIT probe into the Saradha Chit Fund Scam.
SIT under the DGP would be formed and that retired Calcutta High Court judge Justice (retd) Shyamal Kumar Sen will head the four-member Commission of Inquiry.
The marker regulator SEBI launched an investigation into Saradha Realty about three years ago after it received a reference from the Director of Economic Offences Investigation Cell of the West Bengal government in April 2010.
Sebi found that the company was collecting money from public in the range of Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 100,000 for 15 months to 120 months, with a promise of returns of 12-50 per cent.
The investors were being offered the option of getting land or flat allotment in lieu of their investments.
An investor could invest as little as 100 rupees and there was no upper limit.
Saradha promised returns unheard of - 15 per cent to 50 per cent.
Saradha Group successfully showed to people that
big leaders of the Trinamool, like Madan Mitra, Didi...the chief minister, Kunal Ghosh, Shatabdi Roy, Mithun Chakrabort are with Saradha Group.
It also promised land and fancy holidays, always with the assurance that if it failed to deliver, it would give cash.
Saradha lured lakhs of investors to deposit money in its schemes with glossy brochures and the promise of abnormally high returns.
Saradha had Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh heading its media division and MP Satabdi Roy was featured in its promotional material.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had inaugurated two Saradha offices
Three to 3.5 Lakh people work as Saradha Agents and who got commission between 15 to 40 per cent.
Many Agents invested their own money also in to the Saradha Schemes.
Mamata Banerjee government has cracked down on the Saradha group in the chit fund scam.
The state government has frozen about 35 bank accounts belonging to the Saradha group, while 36 cars belonging to Saradha Chairman Sudipta Sen and his company have been seized.
Four office buildings in and around Kolkata belonging to the Saradha group have also been seized along with hundreds of land documents.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a Rs 500 crore-relief fund for the small and medium-term investors hit by the scam.
She said that Rs 150 crore of the fund would be raised through a 10 per cent surcharge on cigarettes and the rest through other means.
Sebi said it would initiate proceedings against Saradha Realty and its directors if the company fails to wind up its CIS schemes and refund the investors.
The regulator also warned of launching a criminal case for "fraud, cheating, criminal breach of trust and misappropriation of public funds" and initiation of winding up of the entire company through a reference to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, if its orders are not complied within three months.
Why to give time, file the criminal court case and see that criminals go behind the bars, go to Jail.
former finance minister and senior CPI(M) leader Asim Dasgupta told to media that
nearly 15 large chit fund companies including the Saradha group, have been operating in the state in last few years amassing over Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion).
Diban Deka, worked for the group's Bangla daily Sakalbela, published from Guwahati
Saradha group employee Diban Deka,alleged that Assam Health and Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had ties with the group.
Sarma not only inaugurated Saradha's biscuit factory in Dhuburi, he also met Sen even at 1 am at night," claimed Deka in a press conference at Guwahati on April 22.
He also alleged that former Assam Director General of Police Shankar Barua and Assam Publication Board chairman and noted singer Sadananda Gogoi were also instrumental in helping the busted group spread its business in Assam.
In this 18 page letter to the CBI, naming all those who were allegedly responsible for the ruination of his company, Sen has claimed he paid more than Rs 1 crore to Nalini Chidambaram at the instance of Manoranjana Singh, the estranged wife of Congress leader Matang Singh. Manoranjana is alleged to have been trying to get Saradha to give Rs 42 crore to set up a TV channel in Guwahati.
In Sen's letter, which police has confirmed as genuine, the Saradha boss alleged that he paid for Nalini Chidambaram's visits to Kolkata and for her stays in a 5-star hotel.
Trinamool Congress asked in a statement following questions
1-
Why was a Chennai lady lawyer fixing deals in the Saradha scam?
2-
Senior advocates are usually barred from meeting clients directly
Why did the lady lawyer make an exception in the case of Sudipta Sen?
3-
Who was the solicitor?
Why were conventions of the legal professional ignored in this 'special matter'?
4-
One Congress minister's lawyer-wife draws up an agreement to get Rs 42 crore in capital for a former Congress minister's wife for a dubious business project.
What was lady lawyer's interest in the venture?
Why was she soliciting capital and investments from Sudipta Sen almost in the manner of an investment banker?
5-
The proposed business venture, a television channel and its promoter both belonged to Northeast. So many good lawyers are available in New Delhi and Guwahati.
why Manoranjana had to go all the way to the Chennai-based Nalini for something, which she could have got done in Kolkata or Guwahati.
Why did the promoter go to a lawyer in faraway Chennai to draft the agreement and act as a consultant?
Was there a hint of political coercion and protection money?
Congress minister must clarify –
Following three government controlled agencies will now investigate the scam.
1)
The Serious Frauds Investigation Office -SFIO
2)
the Enforcement Directorate (ED)
3)
The income tax department
Scam method is a classic Ponzi scheme
Saradha Group Collected Money from one depositor to pay off another.
And the cycle continued until receivers of money became more than depositors
Suggested Reading –
Understanding 11 type of frauds, Scams Tips to Avoid 11 types of frauds, Scams
Suggested Reading -
Multilevel Marketing Schemes – Need to Bring Regulator, Separate Agency to stop MLM Direct Marketing Scams, Speak Asia, Japan Life , Saradha Group
Reality views by sm –
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Tags – Saradha Group Chit Cheat Fund
