Final fee for verifying credentials of 3 cr investors will be much higher
MUMBAI: Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has incurred initial costs of more than Rs55croreinitshumongoustaskoffacilitating the Rs 24,000-crore refund to bondholders of two Sahara firms after verifying their credentials. The Sahara group will now have to clear all these bills.
Sebi is engaged in a long-running case against two Sahara group firms --Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHICL). The two firms were asked last year by the Supreme Court to refund over Rs 24,000 crore raised through issuance of certain bonds to an estimated three crore investors.
In its order dated August 31, 2012, the Supreme Court had allowed Sebi to engage investigators, other experts and supporting staff for the investor verification and refund processes. The court had also ruled that all these expenses would be borne by Sahara and be paid to Sebi.
Sebi is verifying the credentials of more than three crore investors for the refund as per a direction from the Supreme Court.
After Sahara firms were told by the Supreme Court to handover the investor documents to Sebi, the group sent 128 trucks with more than 31,000 cartons of papers to the regulatory authority's headquarters in Mumbai.
The final expense bill of Sebi in this high-profile case could be much higher, as just two contracts – for storing and scanning investor documents and for providing a platform to facilitate redemption related services – have cost it Rs 55.85 crore.
The market regulator has contracted Stock Holding Corporation of India (SHCIL) for the work relating to storage, digitisation and scanning of investor documents and for creation of a database, a senior official said, while adding that this contract is worth Rs 25.97 crore.
Besides this, another contract of Rs 29.88 crore was given to UTI Infrastructure Technology & Services for the work relating to redemption related activities in this case.
The Supreme Court has also appointed a retired judge to oversee the matter at a monthly remuneration of Rs 5 lakh in addition to travelling, accommodation and other expenses, all of which are borne by Sebi and recoverable from the Sahara group.
All the administrative expenses including payments to the additional staff and experts will also be borne by Sahara Group.
While detailed queries sent by media to Sahara remained unanswered, sources said that it has already received some expense bills from Sebi. However, it could not be ascertained whether Sahara has made any payments towards these expenses.
The Sahara group has claimed it has already repaid a vast majority of the investors and its total outstanding liability towards the bondholders is much less than Rs 5,120 crore given by it to Sebi towards the refund process.
Courtesy:
AGENCIES
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=MIRRORNEW&BaseHref=MMIR/2013/04/08&PageLabel=14&EntityId=Pc01406&ViewMode=HTML
MUMBAI: Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has incurred initial costs of more than Rs55croreinitshumongoustaskoffacilitating the Rs 24,000-crore refund to bondholders of two Sahara firms after verifying their credentials. The Sahara group will now have to clear all these bills.Sebi is engaged in a long-running case against two Sahara group firms --Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHICL). The two firms were asked last year by the Supreme Court to refund over Rs 24,000 crore raised through issuance of certain bonds to an estimated three crore investors.
In its order dated August 31, 2012, the Supreme Court had allowed Sebi to engage investigators, other experts and supporting staff for the investor verification and refund processes. The court had also ruled that all these expenses would be borne by Sahara and be paid to Sebi.
Sebi is verifying the credentials of more than three crore investors for the refund as per a direction from the Supreme Court.
After Sahara firms were told by the Supreme Court to handover the investor documents to Sebi, the group sent 128 trucks with more than 31,000 cartons of papers to the regulatory authority's headquarters in Mumbai.
The final expense bill of Sebi in this high-profile case could be much higher, as just two contracts – for storing and scanning investor documents and for providing a platform to facilitate redemption related services – have cost it Rs 55.85 crore.
The market regulator has contracted Stock Holding Corporation of India (SHCIL) for the work relating to storage, digitisation and scanning of investor documents and for creation of a database, a senior official said, while adding that this contract is worth Rs 25.97 crore.
Besides this, another contract of Rs 29.88 crore was given to UTI Infrastructure Technology & Services for the work relating to redemption related activities in this case.
The Supreme Court has also appointed a retired judge to oversee the matter at a monthly remuneration of Rs 5 lakh in addition to travelling, accommodation and other expenses, all of which are borne by Sebi and recoverable from the Sahara group.
All the administrative expenses including payments to the additional staff and experts will also be borne by Sahara Group.
While detailed queries sent by media to Sahara remained unanswered, sources said that it has already received some expense bills from Sebi. However, it could not be ascertained whether Sahara has made any payments towards these expenses.
The Sahara group has claimed it has already repaid a vast majority of the investors and its total outstanding liability towards the bondholders is much less than Rs 5,120 crore given by it to Sebi towards the refund process.
Courtesy:
AGENCIES
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=MIRRORNEW&BaseHref=MMIR/2013/04/08&PageLabel=14&EntityId=Pc01406&ViewMode=HTML
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