Sebi to caution investors against PACL

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has received complaints that PACL (Pearl Agrotech Corporation Limited) continues to collect money from investors, defying the market regulator’s ban.

The market regulator, also entrusted with the responsibility of cracking down on illicit money collection schemes, plans to issue an advisory, cautioning investors against investing in schemes offered by the Delhi-based company.

In August, Sebi had passed an order against PACL, asking the firm to refund around Rs 50,000 crore raised from 58.5 million customers.

A Sebi official said the regulator plans to caution investors by issuing advertisements against PACL. “After the investigation, we will come out with an advisory notice warning investors against the company and not to invest in the schemes launched by it,” said a senior Sebi official.

Two emails sent to PACL did not elicit a response.

Sources indicate that PACL is accepting investments in cities, including Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad.

Sebi, while issuing the order against PACL, had also referred the matter to the state government and local police, asking them to register a civil or criminal case against PACL “for offences of fraud, cheating, and criminal breach of trust and misappropriation of public funds”. The Economic Offenses Wing (EOW), Mumbai, had earlier initiated an inquiry against the company, which it has now transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) considering the quantum of money involved. The regulator has also referred the matter to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) to initiate the process of winding up of PACL

In Sebi’s 92-page order, the total amount mobilised by the company, “by its own admission “comes to a whopping Rs 49,100 crore and “this figure could have been even more if PACL would have provided the details of the funds mobilised during the period of April 1, 2012 to February 25, 2013.”

Sebi order states that PACL operated a land investment scheme, which qualified as a collective investment scheme, without proper registration.

The order also mentions that investors failed to receive any land even after years of investments into schemes offered by PACL.

Securities and Exchange Board of India ( SEBI )