Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

Sebi finds 400 OCBs housed in just 23 addresses

Our Markets Bureau

The Securities and Exchange Board of India probe into the March 2001 stock market scam has revealed that there were 23 common addresses lodging more than 400 registered overseas corporate bodies.

According to Sebi's second interim report submitted to the Joint Parliamentary Committee last month, one such address -- P O Box 1130, 12 Remy Ollier Str, Port Louis, Mauritius -- houses as many as 67 OCBs.

By far, the Lescascades building on Edith Cavel Street, Port Louis, Mauritius, is the favourite spot, with 118 OCBs being housed there.

While 57 OCBs are housing there without any reference to any identifying floor in the building, another 53 are shown to be on the third floor at the same address. Further, four OCBs are housed on the fourth floor and another four on the fifth floor. That brings a total of 118 OCBs in the same building alone.

Sebi has observed that a "large number of OCBs operated from a common address and the addresses shown as the registered offices of OCBs are actually belonging to chartered accounts, which provide financial services to the OCB clients".

The Sebi report said: "This raises a doubt about the genuineness of these OCBs as these financial service providers conduct general body meetings over the phone in some cases, and in some cases merely file necessary papers in Mauritius."

According to Sebi, Mauritius has been the hot favourite of more than 80 per cent of OCBs, operating from various tax havens such as British Virginia Islands and Panama.

The capital market watchdog has found three OCBs operating from a common address in Canada and another three sharing one address in Hong Kong.

Sebi reports that on many occasions, the Ketan Parekh-owned Triumph group and Indsec Securities did not make payments to its OCB clients for sale transactions made by the latter.

The total outstanding by Triumph International to OCBs Brentfield, Kensington, Wakefield and Dossier stood at Rs 1.034 billion, according to the Sebi report as on March 31, 2001.

Powered by

YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO READ:
The Rediff-Business Standard Special
The Budget 2001-2002 Special
Money
Business News

Tell us what you think of this report