Sebi finds buyers for 30 luxury cars in PACL auction

Looking to sell off attached properties of PACL to recover investors' money, Sebi has found buyers for 30 luxury cars of the embattled group in an online auction including of BMW, Audi, Porsche and Rolls Royce make.

As per Supreme Court order, Sebi had put on sale as many as 47 top-end vehicles of PACL Group and the auction was conducted by state-run MSTC Ltd on Tuesday.

The move is part of Sebi's efforts to recover funds totalling about Rs 60,000 crore from PACL group, which was raised from investors through unauthorised collective investment schemes including those related to real estate.

The auction held by MSTC found successful bidders for 30 cars, out of the total 47 vehicles put on sale. When contacted, Bhanu Kumar, Regional Manager at MSTC said: "We have received very good response from participants.

Thirty vehicles have been sold. "We have submitted a report regarding the auction to Sebi," she said. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has also put on the block real estate properties of the group across 192 districts, including Punjab and Rajasthan. PACL, which had raised money from the public in the name of agriculture and real estate businesses, was found by Sebi to have collected these funds through illegal collective investment schemes over a period of 18 years.

Pursuant to a Supreme Court order, Sebi had set up a high-level committee to ensure that refunds are made to the genuine investors after sale of attached PACL assets including vehicles.

The panel, chaired by former Chief Justice of India R M Lodha, is overseeing the process of disposing of assets to refund money to investors after verifying their genuineness.

Last December, Sebi ordered attachment of all assets of PACL and its nine promoters and directors for their failure to refund more than Rs 60,000 crore due to investors -- the biggest amount for any such case.

PACL had raised Rs 49,100 crore from nearly 5 crore investors that it needs to refund along with promised returns, interest payout and other charges, which took the total amount due to over Rs 55,000 crore, as per the Sebi order.

Besides, PACL's group firm PGFL "illegally mobilised more than Rs 5,000 crore and failed to refund the same in spite of directions of Sebi and SAT", the regulator had said while initiating the recovery 

proceedings.