We are ready to pay Rs.20,000 crore to SEBI: Sahara to SC

Sahara group Tuesday offered to the Supreme Court to pay market regulator SEBI in a span of one year Rs.20,000 crore of the money it has to return to the investors collected through Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures (OFCD).

In a fresh proposal to the apex court bench of Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan and Justice J.S. Kehar, the Sahara group said they will deposit Rs.2,500 crore within three working days of the acceptance of its proposal and three instalments of Rs.3,500 each would be deposited with SEBI June 30, Sep 30 and Dec 31. The balance of Rs.7,000 crore would be deposited March 31, 2015.

The Sahara group said its proposal to deposit Rs.20,000 crore to the market regulator in five instalments would be backed by an irrevocable bank guarantee.

The court will consider the proposal Wednesday as it declined to entertain the same Tuesday, saying that it cannot appreciate a proposal being made across the bar. The court said the same should have been submitted to the registry Wednesday evening so that they could have gone through it.

The court had March 4 sent Sahara chief Subrata Roy and his two directors to Tihar jail for failing to deposit the said amount to the market regulator.