LS passes Bill to give teeth to Sebi to tackle ponzi menace

The crucial Sebi bill aimed at tackling the ponzi menace was today approved by Lok Sabha with government saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will soon announce a financial scheme which will discourage people from being allured by fraudulent operators.

The Securities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2014, has been brought in the backdrop of lakhs of small investors being duped by fraudulent investment schemes, like in the alleged Saradha scam.

The new law will empower Sebi investigators to conduct searches and seek information from suspected entities, both within and outside the country. However, as a safeguard, any search operation can be conducted only after approval of a designated court in Mumbai, where Sebi headquarters is based.

Replying to the debate on the Bill, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, "Where there is money there are bound to be some sharks...You would have stray cases and it deals with them when strong regulatory mechanism is required."

He said one of the ways to deal with the menace of ponzi scheme is to expand the reach of banking system to save gullible investors from such schemes.

"The Prime Minister in the next few days is likely to announce that scheme (financial inclusion) and once banking expands in this country to almost cover as many people as possible, we intend reaching at least 2 more account holders in 7.5 crore families.

"That is our object of financial inclusion and if we are able to reach such a large section of population, the need for people to be attracted such ponzi schemes itself will go down," he said.

Jaitley further said that banking system, which "works on conventional and conservative wisdom" is still one of the most reliable form of investments and savings.

Fraudulent investment schemes involving money circulation schemes are popularly known as ponzi.