The Congress Party in a press release on April 25 condemned the injustice done to over 6 crore families who invested in the Pearl Agrotech Corporation Limited (PACL) chit-fund scam, and promised to facilitate the recovery of their money within 6 months if voted to power in the 2019 polls.
The party said that it will ensure the concerned families are paid back the amount they invested, along with the interest owed to them, in accordance with the Supreme Court’s 2016 decision.
The party also said it will pass strict laws to deter such scams in the future. It pointed to the work on it has already begun after coming to power in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, where PACL help centres at the block level have been set up to help citizens with the SEBI’s online portal and address their grievances.
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Earlier Shruti Jain writing for The Wire reported that the chit-fund scam victims had disrupted the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan earlier this week, by holding up placards saying: Our vote, our issue; PACL refund is our right (‘Vote hamara, mudda hamara; PACL ka bhugtaan, haq hamara’).
PACL India Limited, which started in 2017, sold agricultural land to customers through various plans. Over 6 crore families who invested in the company, expecting higher returns, have still not been refunded. In about 17 years, the scam is estimated to have cost investors Rs 50,000 crore.
The Modi government has not yet fulfilled the the 2016 SC order directing “disposal of the land and disbursement of the proceeds to the investors, be completed as soon as possible and preferably within six months from today.”