Facing a possible sale of assets by SEBI to generate money for Rs 24,000-crore investor refund, Sahara group on Wednesday claimed that the personal worth of its chief Subrata Roy was about Rs 3 crore only.
The Sahara group chairman, along with three other top executives -- Vandana Bhargava, R.S. Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhury -- were summoned by the market regulator for personal appearance at Sebi headquarters on Wednesday afternoon.
After their meeting, Sahara group said in a statement that Mr. Roy and others presented the details of their personal assets.
“Subrata Roy’s personal assets were around Rs 3 crore only,” the group said, while listing out the details presented before SEBI.
The regulator had summoned them to finalise the list of their and the two Sahara companies’ assets that could be sold to realise funds to be returned to the investors.
Two Sahara companies, SIRECL and SHICL, have been ordered by the Supreme Court to refund over Rs 24,000 crore raised from more than three crore bondholders, while SEBI has been asked to verify the genuineness of investors and facilitate the repayment to them.
“Subrata Roy requested and conveyed his grave concern that unmatured accounts should get their money back for which Sahara has already paid Rs 5,120 crore to SEBI and SEBI has not taken any initiative.
“He also requested that Sebi should take all possible initiatives to accelerate repayments and verifications of documents,” Sahara statement added.
The group further said that it was facing media trial because of Sebi’s actions, whereas the regulator has not taken any steps in the last seven months towards repayment to remaining investors or towards verifications of documents.
Sahara claims that a majority of the investors were paid back by it directly even before the Supreme Court order on August 31, 2012, and the total outstanding liability was less than Rs 5,120 crore deposited with SEBI for the refund.
