Sleeping dogs and flogging dead snakes

Just like there is nothing French in French fries, there is no chit fund in the chit fund scam in West Bengal. The Saradha group did not run a chit fund. The main entity was a company registered under the Registrar of Companies, operating under the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA). The schemes which it ran were investment schemes and therefore came under the ambit of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which falls under the Union ministry of finance. Both critical ministries were and are headed by Congress ministers.

Since perpetrated by a company registered under the MCA, the whole Saradha scam falls under the central government and not under the state government. Though the group might have had its connections with the ruling party in the state government, if it survived regulatory scrutiny and action, it was because it could pull strings in the central government. Recent reports suggest that the MCA had received reports nearly a year ago. It was obviously letting these reports gather dust. Anything that happens for months, in this cyber age, cannot be called "investigation". Investigation delayed is investigation botched up and regulators are not there to be "amazed" by the "maze of transactions" after the thieves have scooted. In a recent notification after Street Food pointed out the failure of MCA in checking fake addresses, the ministry said it was "neither intended not feasible" for the registrar to go into filings of all companies registered and that the department would initiate action only when there are complaints. This Ostrich syndrome would not hold water for long as MCA-registered companies have become the breeding ground for all sorts of questionable activities from illegal investment schemes, to routing of political bribes and even money laundering.

Sebi doesn't wrap itself in glory either. It kept extending deadlines to the Saradha group. This was after the Economic Offences Investigation Cell (EOIC) of the state government had given a detailed report as early as April 23, 2010. See here: http://bit.ly/YfNPBv

Now, compare this with the Sebi action in the Sahara group case. All it got was a hand-written letter from one Roshanlal, who could not be subsequently traced. From Sebi's own submissions, the letter was received three months before the EOIC complaint against the Saradha group.

Both the groups were equally defiant in sharing information through the course of 2010. By November 2010, Sebi issued an interim order-cum-show cause notice. In December 2010, this order was stayed by the Allahabad High Court and by January 2011, the case came under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court. Saradha group case also proceeds till a show cause notice. In January 2011, the group sends a reply and the next action is after sixteen months in May 2012. What if this had been brought to the notice of the Supreme Court? And what if the Sahara case had not come under the Supreme Court? And I am not even going into corruption allegations in the Sudipta Sen's letter. But, why were the watchdogs sleeping? Why are they now pretending to flog the much-dead snake?