Under fire for claiming it has refunded thousands of crores of rupees to investors in cash,the Sahara group on Wednesday said such large-scale dealings werepossible with its vast network of branches.
The group also sought to shift the blame to Sebi fordelaying the refund to investors, while saying that its cashtransactions were based on a "strict, convenient, safe andcost-effective policy." The Supreme Court yesterday asked how Sahara hadtransacted only in cash while purportedly refunding Rs 20,000 crore. The court made the observations after Sebi said thegroup had not furnished any bank statements to support therefunds to investors, claiming the amount was paid in cash. After a brief hearing, the court adjourned the case toFebruary 20.
The group said in the statement on Wednesday that it had put inplace the cash policy after hundreds of cases of "snatching,robberies, injuries" and even death faced by its workers while carrying money between branches and banks. Blaming Sebi, Sahara said the regulator "does not want tounderstand the spread of our network into 4,700 centres" andthe average daily payment at each branch of about Rs 2.5 lakh. The long-running case relates to the refund of over Rs 24,000 crore to investors by two Sahara firms through Sebi.
Sahara deposited Rs 5,120 crore with Sebi and claimed that more than Rs 20,000 crore was returned directly to investorswho had subscribed to bonds issued by the two firms. Sahara claimed that in the past 17 months, Sebi hasrepaid about Rs 70 lakh out of the Rs 5,120 crore deposited.