Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Government has refunded over Rs 49.67 crore to the victims of chit fund scam during last 14 months, the state Assembly was informed on Monday.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi shared this information while answering a question by Bhograi MLA Goutam Buddha Das. Majhi said altogether 1,33,755 depositors of firms including Rose Valley Group, Golden Land Developers Group, and High-Tech Estates Group have been directly affected, as per the the Chit Fund Commission.
In its interim report, the Commission had recommended repayment to 4,72,651 small investors from the state’s corpus fund. Of this, Rs 46 crore has already been refunded to 96,801 victims.
To facilitate compensation, the state government has created a Rs 300-crore corpus fund for small investors duped by fraudulent chit fund companies.
As per the Economic Offence Wing (EOW), as many as 24,75,782 depositors invested nearly Rs 6,860 crore in various illegal Ponzi firms across the state. Refunds to genuine victims are being made from the auction proceeds of these firms, as per the orders of designated courts under the Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act, 2011 (OPID Act).
So far, Rs 123 crore has been refunded to 3,16,063 depositors under the OPID Act. The Chief Minister said the government is taking steps to expedite the refund process.