letter by mr.vishwanath chaturvedi to pci and nba (1)

7/30/2019 Letter by Mr.vishwanath Chaturvedi to PCI and NBA (1)

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Date: 26-Nov-2012

To

The Chairman

Honble Mr.Justice Markandey Katju

Press Council of India

Soochna Bhavan

8-C.G.O. Complex

Lodhi Road

New Delhi-110003

ToSri K.V.L.Narayan Rao

President And

Smt.Annie Joseph,

Secretary General

News Broadcasters Association

01-103, Paramount Tower

C-17, Community Center,

Janakpuri

New Delhi 110 058.

Copy to:

Securities And Exchange Board ofIndia

Sri U.K.Sinha

Chairman

Plot No.C4-A,'G' Block, Bandra

Kurla Complex,

Board For Control of Cricket inIndia

Sri N Srinivasan

President

"CRICKET CENTRE" Wankhede

Stadium,


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Bandra (East), Mumbai 400051

E-mail : [email protected]

'D' Road, Churchgate, MUMBAI -

400 020.0

Sub : Earnestly requesting the media members to not acceptadvertisements from entities in the Sahara Group as the monies

thereof appear to be illegal and could represent the proceeds of certain

crimes

Dear Sir

1. My name is Viswanath Chaturvedi. I have instituted a number ofanti-corruption cases in several High Courts and the Supreme Court

and have been instrumental in exposing corruption at numerous

places. My complete address is: S/o. Shri M.P.Chaturvedi, R/o.

No.335, Second Floor, Double Storey, New Rajendra Nagar, New

Delhi 110 060. Mobile: +91 9868984938. Email:

[email protected]

2. I invite your attention to the judgment of the Honble SupremeCourt dated 31-Aug-2012 in Civil Appeal No..9813 OF 2011 [Sahara

India Real Estate Corporation Limited Versus Securities and

Exchange Board of India] combined with Civil Appeal No. 9833 OF

2011 [Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Limited Versus

Securities and Exchange Board of India]. A copy of the said

judgment is attached herewith. (Annexure A).

3. You may note from the aforesaid judgment that the companiesreferred therein are part of what is publicly referred to as the

Sahara Group or Sahara Parivar. The Supreme Court has

adjudged that the scheme floated by the aforesaid two companies


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to collect monies from the public was grossly and wholly illegal and

has therefore, directed a timebound refund of Rs.24029.73 Crores

together with interest at the rate of 15% per annum thereof.

4. It is common knowledge that the Sahara Group is the largestadvertiser in the mainstream media, both print and electronic in

India. They are the sponsors of the Indian Cricket Team and several

other sporting teams. This nexus might explain the fact that the

mainstream media simply steered clear of airing any discussion or

debate on the aforesaid judgment and decree against the two

Sahara companies.

5. As the media has generally retained complete silence on the fraudperpetrated by the aforesaid two companies, in order to shed

some perspective on the seriousness of the conduct of the

aforesaid Sahara companies as detailed in the very judgment of the

Supreme Court, I herewith attach two blogs by independent critics

one by Sri K.V.Dhananjay, Advocate, Supreme Court and another

by Smt. Sucheta Dalal, the journalist credited with exposing several

financial frauds and scams, most notably the Harshad Mehta and

Ketan Parekh scams. (Annexure B and C respectively)

6. It is not my intention here to compel the mainstream media todiscuss or to debate the aforesaid judgment of the Supreme Court

or upon the subsequent developments thereof. The media in any

democracy has a choice over what shall be its content and I fullyrespect such choice even when it is plainly evident that its choice is

informed less by public concern and largely by advertising revenue.


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7. However, it has become necessary for the mainstream media inIndia to notice certain subsequent developments in the aforesaid

case as such developments cast too much cloud on the legality of

the part of the media continuing to accept advertisement moniesfrom companies in the Sahara Group.

8. The Securities and Exchange Board of India had warned on 27-Oct-2012 that subscribers entitled to a refund from the two Sahara

companies should not be misled into converting their anticipated

refund into an investment in yet another opaque venture floated

yet again by the Sahara Group by the name of Q-Shop. Added to it,

a small sample of woes faced by investors is put up on a website

sponsored by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Government of

India. A copy of the same is attached herewith. (Annexure D)

9. It should, therefore, be noted that as things currently stand, thevery legality of monies expended by various Sahara entities to

advertise themselves or their products in the media is under doubt

as these Sahara entities do not disclose the source of their funds to

the financial regulators themselves. That is, when the financial

regulators themselves are so clueless on the source and application

of funds in respect of various Sahara entities, it would be

completely unwarranted on the part of any reasonable person to

assume that the media that would accept monies from the Sahara

companies for its massive advertisements is somehow satisfied

that such money is not in any manner connected to the illegal

scheme floated by the two Sahara Companies that have suffered a

Court decree against them.


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10. When no less than the apex court of the country has characterizedthe money soliciting operations of the two Sahara companies as

concoted, fabricated and fictitious, there arises a heightened duty

on the part of the professional media houses in India to probewhether the advertisement monies offered to them by other

Sahara group entities are not connected and are not drawn from

the illegal schemes so shown in the aforesaid judgment of the

Supreme Court.

11. As the regulators in charge of enforcing stricter professionalstandards amongst your members, you have a professional, legal,

ethical and of course, a moral duty to restrain your members from

accepting monies from the Sahara Group companies unless your

members individually reach an objective satisfaction that the

advertisement monies offered to them are not at all connected to

the schemes floated by the two Sahara companies that have

suffered judgment of the Supreme Court. Considering also that the

two Sahara companies in question did not even provide theSupreme Court with information on the application of the funds in

question, even a chance satisfaction already reached by a member

of the media merely upon the say of the Sahara company in

question may only be termed as spurious.

12. However, I have also made certain enquiries and have learnt thatas of today, none of the media members in India have chosen to

probe the advertisement monies tendered to them by the Sahara

Group companies for the purpose of satisfying themselves that

they are not contributing to the disspitation of funds that should

be simply returned to its rightful owners members of the


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unsuspecting public. Such conduct may only be termed as a

reckless disregard for the law and of the judgment of the Supreme

Court, if not a deliberate and intentional pretence about the

tainted nature of the advertisement money offered to it.Unfortunately, such conduct on the part of the media also makes

them fully complicit in the crimes engaged in by the two Sahara

companies in question.

13. Also, a day after the judgment of the Supreme Court was delivered,the two Sahara companies had issued full page advertisements in

the leading newspapers of the country for the purpose of assuring

persons entitled to refund that all is well with the companies at

issue. Such advertisements are indeed legitimate to the two

companies concerned and I am not saying here that the two Sahara

companies are not entitled to defend themselves or to assure their

investors through paid advertisements. I cannot say so and they

are fully entitled to advertise their asset-status, creditworthiness

and repaying position. Rather, when the monies that were illegallysolicited by the two Sahara companies are again chanelled to

promote the activities of another group company or of yet another

opaque or fraudulent scheme, that spending would be an illegal

diversion of funds and the licensed media organizations in India

cannot and should not aid in such diversion of funds by the two

delinquent Sahara companies.

14. Advertisements by a Sahara company in the media whether topromote Q-Shop or any other similar product or service or to

promote the Indian cricket team or any other sporting event or

team most likely represents the illegal diversion of public monies


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that has been judicially decreed to belong to the unsuspecting

public. And, any failure by the two Sahara companies to refund the

entire sum of money illegally raised by them from the public is a

failure that would be improperly compounded and aided shouldyour media members knowingly accept advertisement monies

from Sahara group companies without embarking on a reasonable

enquiry to identify whether such monies form part of the court

adjudged Rs.24029.73 Crores and the interest thereon at 15%.

15. Please note that while I do hold both of your offices and thecurrent incumbents in the greatest of respects, I am also compelled

to add that due to the public interest nature of the request

contained herein, I would be compelled to move an appropriate

court of law should this request go unheeded. Of course, I am

greatly hopeful that this representation will be addressed with the

full seriousness that the issue demands.

In Earnestness

Vishwanath Chaturvedi

letter by mr.vishwanath chaturvedi to pci and nba (1)

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