Mumbai
Mirror: Mumbai: Tuesday, 15 September 2015.
The
Congress-led government had not sought Central Vigilance Commission clearances
while reappointing Prashant Saran as whole-time SEBI member in 2012, RTI pleas
say.
Three years
after Prashant Saran was reappointed in August 2012 as one of the whole-time
members of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) the capital
markets regulator it has now been revealed that the then Union government
had approved his reappointment without securing the mandatory Central Vigilance
Commission (CVC) clearance.
Several
applications have been filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act,
questioning Saran's appointment. One such application was filed by Ramsagar
Yadav from the NGO called the Indian Council of Investors, which looks into
investors' losses and financial administration. Yadav refused to comment.
Saran had
first come to SEBI in 2009, after a stint with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
as its chief general manager. He played a key role in freezing the corporate
and personal accounts of Subroto Roy Sahara in the alleged Rs 24,000-crore
investment scam (see below).
In January
this year, Saran was questioned by the CBI in connection with the alleged
weakening of a case against promoters of the Bank of Rajasthan.
As per the
Union government norms, it is mandatory to seek the CVC clearances for
appointment of whole-time members of the SEBI. However, information obtained
under the RTI Act from the Department of Economic Affairs (Capital Market
Division) revealed that the CVC clearance was not taken for Saran's
reappointment. "As per our records, there is no letter written by the
chief vigilance officer, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), seeking
vigilance clearance for the appointment of Saran," the DEA replied to one
of the RTI pleas.
Replying to a
separate RTI plea, the Union Finance Ministry said that the SEBI can give
clearances for the reappointment of whole-time directors "in addition to
the CVC clearances".
Saran did not
respond to phone calls and text messages. N Hariharan, the SEBI's chief general
manager, said, "As per the SEBI Act, 1992, members of the SEBI Board are
appointed by the Central government." Saran's reappointment is threatening
to snowball into another slanging match between the BJP and the Congress. BJP
Member of Parliament from Mumbai, Kirit Somaiya, said, "I am going to
raise the issue of transparency in functioning of senior executives at
SEBI."
WHO IS
PRASHANT SARAN?
Prashant
Saran, who hold a Master's degree in Physics from the Punjab University, is
known in the corporate sector as the man who took on the Subroto Royled Sahara
Group.
Having joined
the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in 2009 after serving the
Reserve Bank of India as chief general manager, Saran gave Subroto Roy an
opportunity in 2013 to refund the investors.
A year later,
he issued orders on behalf of the SEBI to attack several Sahara Group
properties, bank accounts, and also asked all scheduled banks to freeze
personal accounts and properties of Subroto Roy.
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