Assam online trading has Gujarat connection, alleges Congress

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaSeptember 11, 2024

The recently unearthed online trading scam in Assam has indirect connections to Gujarat, this was alleged by the Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly, Debabrata Saikia here on Wednesday.

“The fraudsters expanded the root of this online trading across the country using a Gujarat model. In Assam, too, the fraudsters ran this online business in the same Gujarat mode,” Saikia said addressing a press conference in Guwahati on Wednesday.

Saikia also highlighted the involvement of a Gujarat-based company, Creditbulls, which vanished in January after defrauding investors of several crores across the country. Despite the magnitude of the scam, neither the NSE nor the SEBI took significant action against the fraudulent financial company.

This lack of intervention, according to Saikia, allowed the company’s CEO, Daval Solani, to flee the country.

Saikia criticized the NSE for issuing only an advisory and failing to take further steps to alert SEBI about the unauthorized transactions of Creditbulls. He suggested that more decisive regulatory action could have prevented the CEO’s escape and possibly mitigated the damage caused by the scam.

Saikia further alleged that Daval Solani, the CEO of the fraudulent company Creditbulls, had previously been recognized by prominent BJP leaders. According to Saikia, Solani received a National Recognition award from then Union Minister Smriti Irani in 2018-19, and was also awarded by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendrabhai Patel for running a successful financial company. Saikia claimed that there is a nexus between these fraudulent financial companies and senior BJP leaders, which has resulted in inaction from regulatory bodies like SEBI and NSE.

Saikia expressed concern over the leadership at SEBI, particularly pointing to Madhabi Puri Buch, the current SEBI chairperson, implying that as long as individuals like her remain in charge, incidents of financial fraud will likely continue to rise in the country.

He also compared the case to that of DB Stock Broking in Assam, alleging that its founder, Dipankar Barman, managed to flee the state similarly to Solani, escaping despite the awareness of local police and administration. This, Saikia suggested, reflects a systemic failure in addressing financial fraud at both state and national levels.

The Opposition Leader criticized the Assam government for failing to monitor the activities of illegal financial companies operating since 2021 and questioned how these companies, including DB Stock Broking founded by Dipankar Barman, were allowed to run their businesses without proper SEBI licenses.

Saikia pointed out that DB Stock Broking was a fraudulent company, its name was intentionally copied from DB (International) Stock Brokers Ltd., a reputable firm established in 1992 and listed by NSE. Barman reportedly defrauded 23,000 investors in Assam and even expanded his fraudulent activities to Australia.

He criticized the state government, particularly Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, for not taking timely action against these companies. He argued that had the Chief Minister directed the police to investigate earlier, such widespread forgery could have been prevented in Assam, a state that is already economically challenged.

Saikia also questioned the state police’s failure to apprehend the culprits and prevent the scam from escalating.

Saikia expressed shock at the scale of the fraud committed by Dipankar Barman, noting that despite Assam having only 1.1% market potential in the stock market, Barman managed to loot Rs 7,000 crore from the state. He questioned why the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has not yet registered a case against Barman, hinting at possible political interference. He suggested that the government may be diverting the ED’s focus toward opposition leaders instead of addressing financial crimes like this one.

The Congress leader also revealed that DB Stock Broking has been deceiving the people of Assam since 2018 under the guise of a legitimate stock business. He expressed surprise over the involvement of a private university, Royal Global University (RGU), which he claimed had patronized DB Stock Broking. The company sponsored many events at RGU, and the university’s owner, who is also a Chartered Accountant, allegedly helped facilitate DB Stock Broking’s activities.

The Congress leader further questioned why the government has refrained from taking action against those involved and insinuated that these individuals had contributed significant amounts to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, which might explain the lack of enforcement action against them.

Saikia further highlighted that these fraudulent financial companies were operating under a “Gujarat model,” as evidenced by the activities of Swapnaneel Das, another scam accused who was arrested by the police in Dibrugarh last week. According to Saikia, Das had opened a training school to teach these fraudulent schemes, further expanding the scam network.

Saikia also mentioned another accused, Bishal Phukan, who allegedly collected large sums of money from people by signing agreements on stamp paper. Phukan promised investors extravagant returns, offering 24% profit within just four days and 100% profit within 240 days of investment, luring many into the scheme.

Saikia used these examples to emphasize the growing scale of the scam and questioned why the authorities had not taken earlier action to prevent such massive fraud in Assam.