Govt. should think twice before dealing the Salai Holdings case
- Imphal Times Editorial :: March 07 2020 -

as for depositors, it is more like waiting for Godot

What will be the fate of the so call investors of M/S SMART Society run by the Salai Holdings Private Limited, who had deposited all their hard-earned money for getting 3% interest in return is not what we in the Imphal Times worried.

Neighbours quarrel over the alleged encroachment of few inches of land, friends turn to the enemy over financial matters, even brothers, relatives fight over a little money.

So what Imphal Times worried is a serious crisis in the coming days as the so-called investors see no hope of getting back the deposited amount.

The only hope that the depositors have is the assurance given by the Chief Minister who is also in-charge of Finance to separate the case of the money related problem from the NIA, which has been taking up case against the Chairman of the Salai Holdings Pvt. Ltd. for announcing establishment of an exile government from London on October 29, 2020, which is a serious offense to the unity of the country.

Two question arises out here is – whether the announcement by the Chairman of Salai Holdings Private Limited, N. Samerjit had any effect to the state of Manipur or is the announcement, his last escaped route survival as his so-called M/S SMART Society will not able pay the promised interest.

What one needs to understand is how the Salai Holdings Pvt. Ltd. could pay 3% interest per month for every deposited money when Private multinational Bank like the YES which runs across the nation is facing a financial crisis.

Forget about where the M/S SMART Society has been registered, and let us also sideline on whether a non-banking financial company do have limitation in accepting deposited money.

When one goes in the logic behind the success of bankers is that – the banks are run by money deposited to the bank by lending the money to another third party in a higher interest from the interest that the bank had to pay to the depositors.

In the banking sector money deposited cannot be directly utilized for other purposes other than lending it in the form of loan to get appropriate income.

So, the question arises here is that can any of the depositors claimed their deposited amount to the M/S SMART Society by seizing the assets that the Salai Holdings Pvt. Limited Company had invested through various holding companies that they run.

Another serious matter that the people should know is that, will the government simply take the case by segregating it from the case being handled by the NIA in connection with the announcement of the existence of a Government in Exile of the Manipur State.

The state government has many experts both in legal, financial matters and administration besides highly trained people to tackle the law and order problems. 20,000 people is a large chunk of people and Rs. 968 crore is around 10% of the state budget.

The Modus Operandi of how the Salai Holdings company M/S SMART Society is more like a Ponzi scheme which the government had curbed by passing legislation - Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2019.

Manipur Government too had extended the legislation since July 31, 2019. Commissioner Revenue is the competent authority of this act as appointed by the government of Manipur.

Now when one enquired on how the money is deposited to the M/S SMART Society, it is known to every depositor that they simply get a passbook without mentioning the amount of money that they deposited, but with a code number like Unit 2, 3 or 4 which is agreed for those deposited Rs. 2 Lakhs, 3 Lakhs or 4 lakhs without any signed papers that defined the unit for people who had deposited less money.

For those who deposited more money, there was an agreement signed in non-judicial stamp paper that stated that the M/S SMART Society borrowed the money that they deposited and in return, the depositor will receive 3% interest of the amount.

Interestingly, the agreement signed in the non-judicial paper has no sign of any advocate or Oath Commissioner.

In addition to this if the person who had signed the agreement was not allowed to sign a new agreement bond but the amount was simply added to their passbook.

The government certainly knows the total asset of the various company run under the Salai Holdings Pvt. Limited.

They also know the total incomes of the company besides the number of employees that they hired started their pay from Rs. 10000 to 1 lakhs.

If suppose the government takes the case then the 20,000 plus people will throw the ball to the government to get their money.

Now voices of the victims have started coming out and it will rise in the coming days. This issue will also definitely impact the next general election if the government think twice before taking the case.

The only option to solve this issue is to either arrest Shamerjit or opens the Salai Holdings Pvt. Ltd. Office using any means.

For time being the government should ignore the case of Shamerjit as his announcement have no impact here in the state of Manipur.