Sebi Vs Sahara: Parivar launches ad-blitzkrieg

After the jolt from Sebi, Sahara's legal and PR machinery is on overdrive. Following an ad-blitzkrieg over the weekend, that saw campaigns splashed across entire pages of national dailies - Sahara today also submitted a plea for allowing an early hearing on its pending interim application. CNBC-TV18’s Ashmit Kumar takes a look at Sahara's counter-offensive.

Sahara is sending out a clear message- it won't back. With Sebi ordering the freezing of bank accounts and attachment of assets of two Sahara Companies - Sahara's legal machinery is now working full time and today filed a plea before the SC seeking an early hearing of its pending interim application. In the interim application, Sahara has sought to be allowed to furnish securities rather than money, arguing that refunds to investors have been issued and any additional payment to Sebi would amount to double payment. These arguments also reverberated through a massive ad campaign that Sahara launched over the weekend. In its latest blitzkrieg, Sahara claims the two companies in question raised Rs 25,781 crores, and have unilaterally refunded Rs 22,117 crores, pegging the outstanding dues at Rs 3,663 crores. Already a far cry from Sebi's claims, backed by two SC verdicts, the figure is also not in sync with the statements made by the parivar before SAT and SC, where it had claimed the total outstanding amount was not more than Rs 2,620 crore. The claims of refunds also run contrary to observations in the Sebi order for attachment (Feb 13), which clearly stated the terms and conditions of bonds issued by the two companies would not allow premature redemptions till at least March 31, 2013. Moreover, having already paid Rs 5,120 crore to Sebi, the ad claimed that no further payments had to be made, while maintaining that a refund from Sebi would soon become due. Sahara has also assured the stakeholders that the 2 Sahara companies in question would be submitting their provisional balance sheets, to Sebi, as on 31st of December 2012. The Parivar also went on to claim that the two companies had realized their investments into real estate projects of the group, with a profit for clearing investor dues. The parivar, through this ad, also did not shy away from issuing a very public warning. Playing victim to what it claims has been a smear campaign, the group warned "all these happening are out of some people's vengeance and we are keeping quiet at the moment otherwise we shall have to open another front". However, faced with two adverse SC rulings, a regulator in overdrive and limited legal options according to experts - the parivar needs to gear up for a tough fight.