New Delhi: The Bombay High Court has issued a notice to the National Spot Exchange (NSEL) for channeling Rs 31 crore to its parent organisation, Financial Technologies India (FTIL). The funds were misused in mid-2018, according to a top source.
FTIL, now renamed 63 Moons Technologies, has tendered an unconditional apology to the high court for having received this money from its scam-tainted subsidiary company. But the court refused to accept its apology and the next hearing has been fixed on February 22.
“NSEL had received this money from NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India). These funds were supposed to be paid to the investors who have lost their money in the NSEL scam. The NSEL management had written to the NAFED management way back in 2013-14 for the money and had categorically held out that they needed the funds urgently to repay investors,” the source said.
“FTIL has tendered an unconditional apology to the Bombay High Court when their nefarious acts were exposed and has in fact returned the money back to NSEL, but the court refused to accept it,” the source added.
When will the investors be paid this money remains a moot question as the repayment has become a huge conundrum. The Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act provides for equitable distribution whereas the Centre and the Maharashtra government want to repay smaller investors, considering the looming general elections, said the source.
The payment was, however, made a part of a contract between NAFED and NSEL for procurement of cotton, made by NSEL for NAFED. For the purpose of managing this procurement business, NSEL had taken a working capital limit from HDFC Bank for which the promoter FTIL had given a corporate guarantee. “As soon as the scam broke out, HDFC Bank collected their dues,” the source said.
