Sebi tightens noose around Sahara

Sends 2,000 letters to identify assets, stop their transfer

The Securities and Board of India (Sebi) has written letters to around 2,000 entities, including public and private sector banks, co-operative banks and mutual funds, to identify assets belonging to the Sahara group and prevent their transfer.

The move is in the wake of Sebi's order of February 13 for attachment of assets of two Sahara group companies and four individuals, Subrata Roy Sahara, Vandana Bhargava, Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary.

Letters have also been written to administrative officials of every district in India to prevent transfer of land belonging to Sahara, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The letters ask the authorities concerned to not allow transfer of any assets in the light of the Sebi order, said the person. "This has been communicated to financial institutions as well as by reaching out to district administration officials, such as the revenue officers or collectors of all the districts," he said.

The letters were sent last week, via both courier and registered post. Business Standard has a copy of the letter addressed to the mutual fund sector. A senior banker with a private bank confirmed receipt of a similar letter. A query to Sahara requesting comment on the matter was not answered. Sebi would not comment, either.

The two companies, Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd, had collected about Rs 24,000 crore through issue of debentures. Sebi and the Supreme Court both decided there were irregularities in the way this had been done and asked that Sahara deposit the money with Sebi to facilitate a full refund. Sahara deposited Rs 5,120 core with the regulator, claiming the remainder of Rs 19,400 crore had already been repaid to investors.

The order in question, however, said Sahara had failed to show that such a refund had taken place. It ordered attachment of the bank and demat accounts, as well as real estate holdings, of the two companies and four individuals. It also gave a list of their assets and asked the entities to supply information on any additional assets they might have within 21 days. It barred them from disposing of such properties in the interim.

"Land transfers take some time. It is possible that the letters might help prevent such transfers," said the person cited above.