Fort the first time, the Odisha Government on Wednesday started refunding money to the small depositors duped by the chit fund companies in the multi-crore chit fund scam in the State.
As many as 200 investors were refunded a total of around Rs 13 lakh on the day in Baleswar district. The money was directly transferred to their bank accounts through RTGS. A total of 1,096 out of 2,306 small depositors in the district have been identified for refund and will be getting their money in phases.
The refund process is being carried out under the supervision of Baleswar district Collector Ramesh Chandra Rout. “As per the guidelines of the Finance Department we have transferred money to the accounts of 200 small depositors who had deposited less than Rs 10,000. The amount was released after Tehsildars sent certified copies of the indemnity bonds along with a copy of the bank passbooks of the identified depositors,” informed Rout.
Additional District Magistrate Manas Kumar Padhi informed that the money will be distributed to the small depositors after securing indemnity bonds and the amount for this purpose has been released to the Tehsildars.
Meanwhile, the Justice MM Das Commission of Inquiry on the chit fund issue submitted four interim reports to the State Government in which it has identified 1, 16,504 small depositors in the State. Initially, investors with deposits of less than Rs 10,000 would get the refund.