BJP seeks SFIO probe into NSEL crisis

Blames FMC for failing to detect crisis, expresses doubts that sale of NSEL shares will enable firm to pay back all investors

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sought a probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) into the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) payment crisis, saying the regulator, Forward Markets Commission, had failed to detect the crisis on time.

“This is a serious payment crisis, in which lots of small investors have been lured to invest by big brokers such as Anand Rathi and IIFL. There is no guarantee that by selling the stocks, NSEL would be able to repay all investors. Also, there is the question of how the settlement fund has shrunk to just Rs 63 crore from Rs 800 crore,” said Kirit Somaiya, former BJP Member of Parliament and its national secretary.

He said the consumer affairs ministry, the finance ministry, the Forward Markets Commission and the Securities and Exchange Board of India had ignored rules and allowed such fake business activities for the last three years, adding no regulator had bothered to check NSEL’s fraudulent activities. “We, therefore, demand an independent investigation into this entire affair or we will move the courts, seeking a court-monitored probe,” he said.

“We want the government to immediately freeze all the assets and bank accounts of the defaulters, including foreign bank accounts and assets.”

Fake and forged warehouse stock receipts were issued for illegal trading of agri commodities, he said, adding a spot exchange couldn’t record a payment/liquidity/settlement crisis unless it was being used for “satta (gambling)”.