MPID court approves sale of Mohan India properties

FMC expands monitoring committee with additional power to monitor entire cashflows of NSEL

The special Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) court on Monday approved a financial settlement between Mohan India group and National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL). Now, Mohan India will be able to realise money, which will have to be deposited with NSEL. The exchange will, in turn, deposit the amount in an escrow account.

An official of the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police said now, Mohan India would have to start the selling process, for which attached properties would be released. Also, the EOW will oversee the whole process. Following the MPID court order, “more borrowers are expected to come for settlement,” the official said.

Apparently, Mohan India, the second-largest NSEL borrower, with a payment obligation of Rs 908.9 crore, had entered into a settlement plan with the exchange by agreeing to pay Rs 771 crore. The group has claimed to be willing to start the payment, but was restricted due to the judicial proceedings underway. Last week, EOW attached the group’s property worth Rs 75 crore. The court directed NSEL to deposit the fund without diverting the money for other purposes without the court’s written permission.

Meanwhile, the court rejected the appeal of a complainant that urged the Income Tax Department, Delhi, be directed to release the seized amount of Rs 60.15 crore. It ordered EOW to appear before the court for further order in case transactions were fishy, not bona fide and not projecting the proper value of the property.

NSEL has clarified it had received a sum of Rs 11 crore from Mohan India, for the use of which it was awaiting guidance from the MPID court or the Forward Markets Commission. “We are in the process of obtaining court and regulatory approvals and, therefore, we have been forced to hold back the money,” the exchange said.

Widening the scope of representations from aggrieved NSEL investors, the Forward Markets Commission has re-constituted the monitoring-cum-auction committee, with enhanced power to control the exchange’s cash flow. The reconstituted committee will have at least three members from the NSEL Investors Forum and one each from the Commodity Participants Association of India, the Association of National Exchanges Members of India and the BSE Brokers’ Forum.