Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Friday initiated the process of refunding the money of over two crore depositors of four cooperatives of the Sahara Group, which is being investigated by multiple agencies for money laundering and financial embezzlement.
An initial refund of ₹10,000 each was transferred to the bank accounts of 112 investors.
Mr. Shah said so far 18 lakh depositors have registered on the ‘CRCS-Sahara Refund Portal’, which was launched on July 18.
He said the next tranche of funds would be transferred as soon as the audit is completed. “I want to assure and I am fully confident that all depositors will get their funds in the coming days,” he said.
He said many times such incidents happen that shake the trust in cooperation. However, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that investors’ money is safe and returned to them.
Sahara depositors were not getting their money back for past 12 to 15 years because of the management fault and delay in court litigations, he said.
Highlighting the efforts made by the Cooperation Ministry in securing ₹5,000 crore from the SEBI-Sahara Fund, Mr. Shah said the Ministry took an initiative of bringing all government bodies concerned, including the CBI and the Income Tax Department, on this issue and made a common appeal before the Supreme Court that small investors should get the first right over the funds.
“If we have to strengthen cooperative movement in the country, then we have to strengthen the trust in cooperatives,” he said.
On March 29, the government said money would be returned to 10 crore investors of the four cooperative societies within nine months. The portal was launched on July 18.
The announcement followed a Supreme Court order directing transfer of ₹5,000 crore from the Sahara-SEBI refund account to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS).
Cooperation Secretary Gyanesh Kumar and a retired Supreme Court judge were also present at the event.
