Sachin Pilot writes to state chief ministers for police action in fraud schemes

NEW DELHI: In a multi-pronged strategy to deal with the menace of fraudulent chit funds and ponzi schemes, the Centre has written to state chief ministers for vigorous police action against erring entities and has also sought an increased surveillance by the RBI.


Besides, the Corporate Affairs Ministry has also decided to spread public awareness about such schemes through bulk SMSs, TV tickers and messages on Post Office Passbooks, while a joint campaign is being explored with Sebi as well.

These steps were listed by the Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on steps being taken against fraudulent investment schemes floated by Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) companies.

Typically, such schemes involve collection of money from the public with promise of huge returns but many cases have come to the fore where operators of such schemes, which are also known as Ponzi Schemes, have fled after fleecing the gullible investors.

Pilot said he has written to state chief ministers requesting the state governments to issue instructions to the police authorities of their respective states for vigorous action against the erring entities under relevant regulations.

Besides, he has also written to Finance Minister P Chidambaram to increase surveillance by the RBI over unauthorised non-banking finance companies.

"Model rules under the Prize Chits and Money Circulations Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978 have been sent by the Ministry of Finance to the State Government for notification," Pilot said.

In order to reach out to larger section of the society, it has been recently decided to send bulk messages on BSNL's network, ticker message on the news channel of Doordarshan and its regional kendras, he said.

In addition, a brief investor awareness message is planned to be display on Post Office Saving Bank Passbooks.

Investor Awareness Programmes are conducted by the Corporate Affairs Ministry in association with the Professionals Institutes to educate the investors, including the young investors, about the various investments options, Pilot added.