[ by Legal Era News Network ]In a major development, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Chennai Police has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the beleaguered Franklin Templeton Asset Management India Pvt Ltd (FTAMIL) and Franklin Templeton Trustee Services Pvt Ltd (FTTSPL) and their billionaire top management personnel.The Chennai Financial Markets &...
In a major development, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Chennai Police has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the beleaguered Franklin Templeton Asset Management India Pvt Ltd (FTAMIL) and Franklin Templeton Trustee Services Pvt Ltd (FTTSPL) and their billionaire top management personnel.
The Chennai Financial Markets & Accountability (CFMA) had filed a complaint on 13th May, 2020 in the interest of millions of aggrieved investors of Franklin Templeton whose over Rs. 28,000 crore is stuck because the fund house abruptly closed down its 6 debt schemes in India in April this year. The EOW, Chennai, registered the FIR after investigating the complaint.
The EOW has booked the management for hatching criminal conspiracy to defraud 3 lakh investors by causing wrongful loss to them and unlawful gain to themselves by committing various offences under the IPC, including Mr. Santosh Das Kamath, MD and Chief Investment Officer, FTAMIL and Mr. Sanjay V Sapre, whole time member, FTAMIL, Jayaram Subramaniam Iyer, Vivek Kudva, RV Subramaniam, Pradip P Shah, all directors, FTAMIL, among others.
Subsequently, a larger number of investors have dragged Franklin Templeton in court demanding refund of their investments. Meanwhile, investors all over the country are now demanding a cash back especially when Franklin Templeton recently claimed that two of the funds, Franklin India Low Duration Fund and Franklin India Credit Risk Fund turned cash-positive on 31 August. Since then, the six schemes have received over Rs. 6,486 crore.
In a Press Release, the CFMA has stated, “The CFMA is fighting for the cause of common people and is spearheading the movement against the fraudulent actions of Franklin Templeton on behalf of millions of retired and pensioner investors who had parked their hard-earned savings in the various schemes of Franklin Templeton expecting a safe and better return on their investments as promised by the global fund house that manages over Rs. 1.16 lakh crore in mutual funds in India and USD 700 billion globally.”
It further stated, “The CFMA is also contemplating filing of Class Action Suit against Franklin Templeton global for recovery and to claim damages, the details of which will be announced soon. The CFMA has appealed to all aggrieved investors to come together for filing the Class Action Suit and also file complaints with EOW, Chennai and intimate CFMA so that it can collectively pursue it in the Hon. Madras High Court, on their behalf. The CFMA website http://cfma.in will guide all investors who are interested in recovering their lost money.”
An RTI query has already revealed that Franklin Templeton did not take any approval from capital market regulator before winding up its six debt schemes. A trust had filed a plea in the Gujarat High Court, seeking a stay on the liquidation process of the six debt schemes of Franklin Templeton. On June 3, the Gujarat High Court stayed Franklin Templeton’s e-vote on liquidation of debt schemes that was scheduled to be held from June 9 to June 11 and ordered SEBI to put their forensic report in public domain which has not yet been complied with.
The company filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against this stay order but on June 19, the Court dismissed its SLP and refused to vacate the stay. The Apex Court instead transferred all the petitions related to the case to the Karnataka High Court asking it to decide the matter in 3 months.