PACL Overseas assets can be moved against says Supreme Court

Supreme Court panel to sell Pearl assets to refund investors:

The Supreme Court today ordered that the committee appointed to oversee the refund of money by PACL Ltd. to its investors will have the jurisdiction to look into overseas assets of PACL.

This order was passed in an application filed by Kerala based investors and employees of PACL praying for a direction to the court-appointed Committee to seize and sell all properties situated in Australia and belonging to the Company, its promoters and directors.

The matter was heard today by a Bench of Justices Anil R Dave and AK Goel. Advocates PB Suresh, Vipin Nair, CP Chandrasekharan, Tishampati Sen and Prithu Garg appeared for the petitioners. Advocate Surekha Raman appeared for SEBI.

The Supreme Court had appointed the committee headed by former Chief Justice of India, RM Lodha on February 2, 2016 to oversee the refunds.

The employees, investors and customers had intervened in the matter through an association PACL Employees and Customer Protection Forum. In their application, the Petitioner association had contended that,

“the Promoters and Directors of PACL, in particular its Chairman and Managing Director Mr. Nirmal Bhangoo, has transferred over USD 130 million (i.e., approx. INR 884 Crores) from out of the amounts collected from investors in India, to Australia.”

The petitioner has also made serious allegations against former Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh and former Australian High Commissioner to India, Peter Varhgese. The petitioner has submitted that Bligh directly dealt with requests from members of Nirmal Bhangoo’s family to obtain “state-sponsored” visas.

The petitioner had sought for a direction to be issued that all properties either in the name of PACL Ltd. or in the names of its Promoters/ Directors be sold by the Committee appointed pursuant to the order of February 2, 2016. It has also prayed for a direction to be issued to the Lodha Committee to contact the Competent Authorities in Australia to enquire into and deal with all properties of PACL Ltd.

The Supreme Court had issued notice in the application on March 31 last week and listed the matter for today. After hearing the parties, the Court enlarged the scope of its earlier order of February 2 and directed that the Lodha Committee would have jurisdiction to look into the assets of PACL even outside India.

With this order, the assets of sister concerns and associates of PACL will also come under the purview of the Supreme Court order of February 2.

Overseas assets can be moved against says Supreme Court

SC Names Panel to Monitor PACL Assets Sales: 

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday appointed an expert committee headed by former Chief Justice of India R M Lodha to monitor the sales of assets and refund of money to the investors of Pearls Agrotech Corporation Ltd (PACL).

A bench, comprising justices Anil Dave and Adarsh Goel, also said that the title deeds of various lands belonging to PACL should be handed over by the CBI to the SEBI, which shall accordingly take appropriate steps to ensure their sale for the purpose of refunding the money to the investors.

It also directed PACL not to accept any deposit from the public and restrained any court from interfering with sale proceedings. The bench posted the matter for further hearing on August 2, 2016.

The panel is looking to sell unencumbered land parcels around Delhi and the National Capital Region and has pegged valuation of unencumbered assets at Rs 16,000 crore. 

Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had constituted a three-member committee under the chairmanship of former Chief Justice RM Lodha for disposing off the land purchased by and refunding the proceeds to investors.

PACL investors move Supreme Court to sell company’s Australia assets

In a major development in the PACL Ponzi scam, the employees, investors and customers in Kerala have filed a fresh application in the Supreme Court praying for a direction to the court-appointed Committee to seize and sell all properties situated in Australia and belonging to the Company, its promoters and directors.

The matter was mentioned today by advocates PB Suresh, Vipin Nair and Tishampathy Sen before the Bench of Justices Anil R Dave, Shiva Kirti Singh and AK Goel. The Court took the application on board, issued notice and posted it for hearing on April 5.

The employees, investors and customers had earlier intervened in the matter through an association PACL Employees and Customer Protection Forum (Petitioner).

In their application, the Petitioner association has contended that the the Promoters and Directors of PACL “in particular its Chairman and Managing Director Mr. Nirmal Bhangoo, has transferred over USD 130 million (i.e., approx. INR 884 Crores) from out of the amounts collected from investors in India, to Australia.”

“It is believed more than USD 100 million (i.e., approx. INR 680 Crores) has been transferred by the Directors of PACL Ltd. to Australia. Investigations indicate that in the year 2009 the said transferred money was used to purchase the Hotel Sheraton Mirage in the Gold Coast city. Mr. Nirmal Bhangoo is considered to have spent USD 62 million in buying the said resort and USD 20 million more in renovating it.”

The petitioner has also made serious allegations against former Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and former Australian High Commissioner to India, Peter Varhgese.

As per the petition,

“It is further submitted that it is understood that in October 2010, in Delhi, as part of a trade mission, and Brisbane’s 2018 Commonwealth Games bid, former Queensland Premier Ms. Anna Bligh and the then Australian­ High Commissioner to India, Peter Varghese, met Pearls Group directors, i.e., Mr. Gurpratap Singh, Mrs. Sukhwinder Kaur and Mr. Rikha­b Jai, along with the Pearls Australia – joint managing directors – Mr. Paul Brinsmead and Peter Madrers.  The said meeting reportedly was “designed to encourage the Pearls Group to increa­se its investment portfolio in Queensland”.

The petitioner has submitted that Bligh directly dealt with requests from members of Bhangoo’s family to obtain “state-sponsored” visas.

“Reportedly, it is a matter of record that Ms. Bligh dealt directly with requests from members of Mr. Bhangoo’s family to obtain “state-sponsored” visas. It is submitted and ought to be noted that a number of Mr. Bhangoo’s relatives are now living in Australia. His daughter, Barinder Kaur, and her family lives in an opulent canal-front property in the Gold Coast suburb of Hope Island, bought for USD 4.95 million (approx. INR 33.7 Crores)  in 2011 by Pearls Infrastructure Projects, an affiliate of PACL Ltd.”

The petitioner has made, inter alia, the following prayers:

Pass an order directing that all properties either in the name of PACL Ltd. or in the names of its Promoters/ Directors be  sold by the Committee appointed pursuant to the order dated 2.02.2016

Direct SEBI and the Lodha Committee to contact the Competent Authorities at Australia to enquire into and deal with all properties of PACL Ltd. 

On February 2 this year, the Court had appointed a Committee headed by former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha to oversee the refund of money by PACL to its investors.

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