Sebi bars 8 entities for illegal collective investment scheme

New Delhi: Cracking the whip, Sebi on Tuesday barred Parivar Dairies and Allied Ltd, PDA Foundation and six individuals from the securities market for illegally garnering money from the public in the name of cattle booking
schemes.

Four directors of Parivar Dairies and Allied Ltd (PDAL) -- Basant Lal Sharma, Ahibaran Singh, Chandra Bhan Yadav and Pradeep Kumar Sharma -- as well as trustees of PDA Foundation -- Neeraj Singh and Bhanu Pratap Singh -- have been banned for at least four years.

These individuals have also been restrained from "holding position as directors or key managerial personnel of any listed company for a period of four years," Sebi said in an order.

PDAL, PDA Foundation and these individuals have also been directed to wind up their collective investment schemes and refund the money. According to the regulator, the financial statements of PDAL indicate that funds received from investors were pooled together as 'sundry advances under cattle sales scheme' and as on March 31, 2008, these advances stood at little over Rs 4.62
crore.

The contents of the cattle booking certificate and agreement in particular raise questions regarding the true nature of the transactions between PDAL, PDA Foundation and the customers, the order noted.

"There is no documentation or evidence providing specifications of the distinctly identifiable cattle purchased customer wise.

"... the supposed sale of cattle and repurchase for an estimated realisable value and the terms thereof, do not lend credibility to the submission that the transactions executed by PDAL/ PDAF were genuine contracts of sale," Sebi said.