Illegal CIS: Sebi asks G-Life India directors to refund Rs 26 crore to investors

Till the time the refund is made to the investors, “directors are restrained from accessing the securities market and prohibited from buying, selling or otherwise dealing in securities market, directly or indirectly,” Sebi said.

Markets regulator Sebi on Thursday asked the directors and ex-directors of G-Life India Developers and Colonizers Ltd to refund over Rs 26 crore mobilised from investors illegally, and restrained them from the securities market till the completion of repayment. The regulator, in an investigation, found that the firm was running a collective investment scheme (CIS) without obtaining requisite registration from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). The firm, while running the unregistered scheme under the garb of real estate business, collected Rs 26.38 crore from the investors between 2010 to 2015, the order said.

By doing so, the officials of G-Life India violated provisions of the Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices norms. “G-Life India and its directors (Noticee Nos. 2 to 8) are jointly and severally liable to wind up its existing CIS and refund the contributions or payments collected from investors under the schemes with returns due to the investors within a period of three months,” Sebi said in its order dated Oct 17.

Giriraj Pandey, Deepak Sharma, Sirajali, Manoj Kumar Pandey, Pramod Kumar Pandey, Sunil Kumar Sharma and Pappu Pawar are the directors of the company. While asking the officials to return Rs 26.38 crore, the regulator noted that “this is the minimum amount raised by the Noticee company and hence is required to be refunded to the investors along with any other further amounts mobilized by the company.”

Till the time the refund is made to the investors, “directors are restrained from accessing the securities market and prohibited from buying, selling or otherwise dealing in securities market, directly or indirectly,” Sebi said. Among other directions, the firm and the directors have been asked to submit a winding up and repayment report to Sebi within 15 days of completion of the refund.