Sebi-PACL: SAT rejects Bhangoo's stay plea; hearing on Jan 29

Mumbai: In the PACL case involving refund of a whopping Rs 60,000 crore to investors, tribunal SAT today rejected an appeal by Nirmal Singh Bhangoo to stay the recovery process initiated by Sebi and listed the matter for hearing on January 29.

An earlier plea by Bhangoo, one of the main promoters of the PACL group which includes companies like Pearls Agrotech Corp Ltd and Pearls Golden Forest Ltd (PGFL), is already pending before the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT).

Facing heat from multiple agencies in the country's biggest illegal fund-mobilisation case, Bhangoo had moved SAT on December 30 against Sebi's recovery proceedings to collect funds due to investors.

A single-member bench had listed the matter for today, as the Presiding Officer of the Tribunal was on vacation.

In today's proceedings, the Tribunal refused to grant any immediate stay sought by Bhangoo and listed the matter for hearing on January 29.

Earlier this week, PACL had also filed a writ petition before the Delhi High Court seeking a stay on Sebi's recovery proceedings which the regulator initiated earlier last month against PACL, Bhangoo and others to recover funds totalling more than Rs 60,000 crore that they were asked to refund to investors.

While PACL is being probed by multiple agencies including CBI and ED, Sebi found it to have collected money from crores of investors through unauthorised collective investment schemes in the name of real estate projects. It is also said to have been involved in agriculture land related schemes.