Court Convicts Firm Over Unlicensed Investment Scheme

A court has convicted Kisley Plantation Ltd and its directors for violating SEBI regulations by running an unlicensed Collective Investment Scheme, deceiving the public with false promises of high returns.

In a significant judgment, a court has convicted Kisley Plantation Ltd and its directors in a decades-old case involving financial malpractices. The company was found guilty under the SEBI Act for running an unlicensed Collective Investment Scheme (CIS) that trapped many investors with promises of unrealistic returns.

The Additional Sessions Judge Vandana Jain ruled that the company, along with its directors S P Rai, Mohammed Abul Kalam, and Prem Lata, were responsible for the firm's day-to-day operations. They misled the public by pledging fiscal benefits without proper registration, accumulating approximately Rs 2.43 crore.

The court's decision underlines the directors' failure to provide any proof of payments to investors, highlighting that no report on the company's winding up was submitted to SEBI. With a potential sentence of up to 10 years or a fine of Rs 25 crore, the matter awaits further proceedings.