Saradha, Rose Valley raised Rs 12,740 crore illegally, says govt

Group firms of Saradha and Rose Valley raised Rs 12,740 crore illegally, according to the corporate affairs ministry. The ministry has completed probes against Saradha Realty India and its 13 Group companies while investigation is also over against Rose Valley Real Estate & Construction and its 18 Group firms, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

"As per the investigation reports, the quantum of funds mobilised by the ... two groups of companies, where investigation has been completed, was Rs 12,740 crore, Sinha said. Investigations found that Rose Valley Group had raised as much as Rs 10,281 crore from investors while Saradha firms had mobilised Rs 2,459 crore.

According to the details provided by Sinha, the probe against Saradha was completed on July 7, 2014, while the investigation against Rose Valley was completed on December 12 the same year.

Separately, Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley also informed the House that his ministry had ordered investigation against 38 companies so far this fiscal of which most companies belonged to Saradha and Rose Valley Groups. Since 2011-12, the ministry has probed a total of 102 companies while 96 chit fund companies have been investigated separately by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office for alleged violation.

As many as 38 firms have been probed by the ministry since beginning of April 2014 while 22 companies each came under its scanner in 2012-13 and 2013-14. The ministry had investigated 20 companies in 2011-12.

As many 14 Saradha firms were probed by the ministry-including Saradha Realty, Saradha Agro Development, Saradha Exports, Saradha Shopping Mall and Saradha Construction Company. Besides, investigations were carried out against 19 Rose Valley companies such as Rose Valley Real Estate & Construction, Rose valley Industries, Rose Valley Hotels & Entertainment, Rose Valley Housing Development Finance Corporation and Rose Valley Airlines.