Supreme Court pulls up CBI, SEBI over reluctance to probe dealings of IHFL

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the CBI and SEBI for their "reluctance" to probe allegations of "dubious transactions" against Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited (IHFL), now known as Sammaan Capital Limited.

The top court ordered the central agency director to hold a meeting with SEBI, SFIO and ED to look into the matter. 

A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan and N Kotiswar Singh, which also pulled up the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) for the compounding of multiple offences committed by IHFL, came down heavily on the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) over the "double standards" adopted by the market regulator in different cases over its jurisdiction to probe into illegalities. 

The bench asked what was preventing authorities from filing an FIR and probing the allegations. It said that in the meeting to be held by the CBI director with officials of SEBI, SFIO and the ED, the closure of cases by the MCA shall not be an impediment and all allegations levelled by NGO 'Citizens Whistle Blower Forum', represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, will be looked into.

The court also asked the Delhi Commissioner of Police to furnish original records of the complaints made by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for probing into the allegations against IHFL and the basis on which the said complaint was refused to be probed by the Economic Offence Wing (EOW). 

It directed that a senior official of the EOW of Delhi Police should be physically present with all original records on the next date of hearing.

During the hearing, the bench said, "We are surprised to see that the CBI has adopted a very cool kind of attitude and approach in this case. We have never seen such a friendly attitude, as we find in this case."

The court said, this is ultimately public money, it's not somebody's private self-earned money that is being circulated here and there. 

"There is a strong element of public interest involved. Even if 10 per cent of allegations are correct, there are some large-scale transactions which can be dubbed as dubious," the bench said.

It added that once a doubt is created, the CBI has to register an FIR.

"During the investigation, somebody may or may not be found involved. But registering an FIR will strengthen the hands of the ED, SFIO, SEBI. What really is preventing the authorities? Why is the MCA indulging in closing the matter like this? What is their interest in this," the bench asked Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Centre and probe agencies. 

Bhushan alleged large-scale irregularities in the affairs of Indiabulls, a non-banking financial company, and claimed that IHFL and its erstwhile promoters advanced dubious loans to companies owned by large corporate groups, which in turn were round-tripping the money back to the accounts of companies owned by the promoters of Indiabulls to increase their personal wealth.   

During the hearing, Bhushan alleged that erstwhile promoter Sameer Gehlaut had fled the country and was now living in London and was purchasing a plane, yacht and a bungalow.    

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi said Gehlaut had exited the company way back in 2022-23 and does not hold a single share in it. The company now is 'Sammaan Capital' where several foreign companies have their stakes.   

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the company, refuted the allegations levelled by Bhushan.     

The bench said it has not gone into the merit of the allegations and only asked the CBI director to hold a meeting with officials of other agencies to look into it.

On October 8, the court asked the MCA to place before it the original records of the closure of illegalities pointed out by SEBI in the affairs of IHFL.