Last Updated: March 16, 2023, 13:38 IST
In November 2020, capital markets regulator Sebi issued a show-cause discover to the corporate following its April 2020 choice to wind up six debt schemes. (File Image: News18)
The federal company is seeking to collect extra proof as a part of its investigation in opposition to the corporate and its promoters below the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The Enforcement Directorate is conducting searches at some locations linked to asset supervisor Franklin Templeton and its former and present executives as a part of a cash laundering investigation, officers stated on Thursday.
The federal company is seeking to collect extra proof as a part of its investigation in opposition to the corporate and its promoters below the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Office and residential premises in Mumbai and Chennai are being searched, they stated.
The firm stated it was cooperating with the investigations.
“We continue to cooperate with all regulatory and statutory authorities and provide all data and information required by them. Franklin Templeton places great emphasis on compliance with regulations, and we have appropriate policies in place, consistent with Indian regulations and global best practices,” Franklin Templeton said in a statement.
In November 2020, capital markets regulator Sebi issued a show-cause notice to the company following its April 2020 decision to wind up six debt schemes having Rs 25,000 crore of assets under management (AUM) from 3 lakh investors, citing liquidity challenges because of the pandemic.
Eventually, the company was asked to pay Rs 5 crore as a penalty, return over Rs 450 crore collected as 22-month investment management and advisory fees, and was banned from launching new debt schemes for alleged irregularities in running the six debt schemes.
The Chennai police’s Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) subsequently registered an FIR to probe these alleged irregularities. The ED money laundering case stems from this complaint.
The company said that in reference to the six schemes under winding up, as of March 16, 2023, these schemes have already distributed Rs 26,931.27 crore to unitholders, amounting to 106.81 per cent of the aggregate reported AUM value as of April 23, 2020, across the six schemes. “The total amount disbursed so far ranges between 99.32 per cent and 112.46 per cent of the respective reported AUM values of the six funds as of April 23, 2020.” “At the time of every distribution, the Net Asset Value of every of the schemes was increased than it was on April 23, 2020. Further, 5 of the six funds have returned over 100 per cent of the AUM on the time of the winding up choice on April 23, 2020,” it stated in the assertion.
Four out of six schemes have liquidated all performing securities and there is just one issuer with three performing securities remaining to be liquidated in the opposite two schemes. The AMC is constant to help the continuing liquidation course of by a third-party liquidator, Franklin Templeton stated.
In 2021, Sebi restricted the heads of the asset supervisor — Vivek Kudva and Roopa Kudva — from accessing the securities market and from shopping for, promoting or in any other case dealing in securities, straight or not directly, or being related to the securities market in any method, by any means , for one 12 months.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is printed from a syndicated information company feed)