Respected
Madam,
I write
to you on behalf of a strong community of around 500,000 citizens of India. I
draw your attention
to our plight and agony since August 2009. We are unfortunate victims of mega
financial fraud
executed by City Group Ltd. and its group concerns ( www . cit y lim ou z i n e
s . c o m ).
Background:
City
Group Ltd. is an ISO 9001-2000 (claimed to be established in 1995) certified
private company based
in Mumbai with branches in major Indian cities (New Delhi, Bangalore,
Hyderabad, Chennai,
Pune and Jaipur) and the USA. This company is headed by Mr Syed Masood and
accepts investments
in cheque and cash from general public. The company was in this business under
14 different
subsidiary companies. As per the agreement signed between each of the
subsidiary company and
individual investors, the investor is guaranteed a monthly return for a fixed
period. On
completion
of the tenure, the investor is refunded either a partial amount from the
investment he / she
made or a vehicle as written in the agreement. The company issued receipts for
the investment
made. T o make the deal look authentic, the company also issued Preference
Share Certificates
towards a partial amount of the investment. The company has been in this
business since 1996.
The trouble started in August 2009 when cheques started bouncing. The company
began giving false
reasons like internal audit to prolong the matter. To our shock the company
abruptly shut down
all its offices and branches in India without any communication. Instead of
coming open in the
public and explaining the correct situation, the employees and directors of
this company kept postponing
the dates of re-opening the branches.
Impact:
It was
only the high amount of returns advertised and promised by the different
schemes of this group
that led investors to believe its claims and invest in its schemes. There are
many senior government
officials, reputed political leaders, retired armed personnel who fell prey to
the advertisements
and invested in the schemes promoted by the group. Our plight is different from these
investors. We are sma l l investors and are adversely affected to a large
extent because our
hard-earned
money is at stake. There are many investors who have no other option but to end
their life
because of this scam. Please note that there are retired people, ladies, widows
etc. who invested their
entire savings accumulated over their life and now have nowhere to go.
As a
matter of fact, the group’s New Delhi office inaugurated by the Delhi Transport
Minister Mr. Haroon
Yusuf. (The Hindu dated 25.11.05). It also displays a “Letter of
Recommendation” written by a
Congress cabinet minister viz. Mr Subodh Kant Sahay favouring the group’s
tainted chairman Mr. Masood.
In addition, the Company was appointed as sponsors to the Indian Women Hockey Federation
till 2010 and pledged to give a stipend of Rs. 1 crore & Rs.5 lakhs towards development
of the game. This was announced by Mr. Masood in a glittering function held at
hotel Shangri-La,
New Delhi in 2006 (Source: Times Now dated 29.6.06)
Current
Situation & Way Forward:
The
estimated corpus of our investments today stands at Rs.15,000 crores with this
group under various
schemes advertised in the print media on a continuous basis. Majority of us
have taken personal
loans or sold off assets in order to invest in this company. All the investors
of this company are
going through a very painful time since this unfortunate event in August 2009.
The chairman of this
group Mr. Masood has refrained from communicating with the investors and all
efforts undertaken
towards this from our side have not been fruitful. As on date different
agencies like ED and EOW
are investigating the matters. Mr. Masood and his wife are being represented by
Mr. Abhishek
Singhvi, Congress spokesperson, who is also a MP representing Rajasthan in the
Rajya Sabha.
Mr. Masood is presently in police custody. We are unaware how long the
investigations will
continue. We are dependent on the public prosecutors and the various government
agencies to
punish the guilty and deliver justice. We earnestly request you to kindly look
into this matter at
the
earliest and bail us out from this situation. We also request you to direct the
concerned agencies
to speed up the probe and resolve this scam as a priority. We look forward to
you with trust
as our only hope.
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