Apart from hoodwinking people on the pretext of high returns, a group of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) continued to collect deposits from the investors despite a ban on them for not adhering to the financial rules and regulations.
The High Court of Jharkhand at Ranchi in an interim order on April 29 had put a stay on the functioning of the companies including Green Ray International Limited (GRIL) and Basil International Limited (BIL).
It is alleged that despite the stay order (a copy of which is with ‘The Express’), these companies continued to run their business and collect crores of rupees by suppressing the court judgment.
Not only in Odisha, these companies had been collecting deposit from the gullible people of other States including Jharkhand by violating guidelines prescribed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The order came in the wake of petitions filed by GRIL, BIL, Arshdeep Finance Limited, Oak India Multistate Credit Cooperative Society Limited and Dhanolty Developers Limited against the Government of Jharkhand which had sealed the business premises of these organisations there.
While the companies in their petitions had blamed the Government for sealing their branch offices unlawfully, the High Court directed the companies to cooperate with the investigating agency till the probe is completed.
The companies’ premises were, however, sealed after it was learnt that they did not have legal authorisation from the RBI or the SEBI to function as banking or non-banking financial organisations. Besides, the ponzi schemes were floated by these companies in gross violation of the existing laws and acts.
The Court had also directed that the companies would not be allowed to operate their existing accounts during the probe and alienate any asset - movable or immovable, besides stating that they can continue with their business only if they are found to be not in violation of rules, regulations, guidelines and Acts applicable to such companies.
Even as the authorities of GRIL and their legal advisors claimed that the company was not into financial activities and their relationship with people was that of trader-customer, they had been luring people through various investment plans.
The company’s declarations in various internet sites stated that apart from direct sale of gold and silver, it also offers great investment plans to the clients, which offers better guaranteed returns than all possible known investment options.
