PART-6. Saradha Group financial scandal : MAMATA After taking over as CM of West Bengal, defeating Communists, she could not manage her State, now in Delhi protesting and abusing PM Along with a bunch of evil associates.
889.
All Members,
Respected family members of this great holy Nation.
Sub : Saradha Group financial scandal
Ref : After taking over as CM of West Bengal, defeating Communists, she could not manage her State, now in Delhi protesting and abusing PM Along with a bunch of evil associates
SCANDAL STORY :
Part-6.
Modus operandi of Saradha : -
6. Building brand and non-financial businesses :
1.
Like previous Ponzi schemes such as Anubhav teak plantations, Saradha Group invested heavily in the building of its brand.
With enormous funds at its disposal, Saradha invested in high visibility sectors, such as the Bengali film industry, where it recruited actress and Trinamool Congress (TMC) Member of Parliament (MP) Satabdi Roy as its brand ambassador.
Bollywood actor and TMC MP Mithun Chakraborty was brought in as the brand ambassador of Saradha Group's media platform.
2.
Saradha Group also enlisted Kunal Ghosh, another TMC MP, as the CEO of the media group.
Under Kunal Ghosh, the group acquired and established local television channels and newspapers, investing around Rupees 9.88 billion (US$150 million) in the media group.
By 2013, it employed over 1,500 journalists and owned eight newspapers printed in five languages : -
Seven Sisters Post and Bengal Post (English dailies), Sakalbela and Kalom (Bengali dailies), Prabhat Varta (Hindi daily), Ajir Dainik Baturi (Assamese daily), Azad Hind (Urdu daily) and Parama (Bengali weekly magazine).
It also owned Bengali news channels Tara Newz and Channel 10, Bengali general entertainment channels Tara Muzic and Tara Bangla, Punjabi general entertainment channel Tara Punjabi, an international channel aimed at the Indian diaspora, TV South East Asia and one FM radio station.
Author Aparna Sen was made the editor of Parama.
3.
In 2011, Saradha Group bought Global Automobiles, a heavily indebted motorcycle company as a front for the latest version of its Ponzi scheme.
Global Automobiles immediately stopped most production but kept 150 workers on its payroll who "pretended to work whenever truckloads and busloads of prospective depositors of Saradha Realty visited the plant for a first-hand check before investing".
It also bought similar shell companies like West Bengal Awadhoot Agro Private Ltd, located in North 24-Parganas, and Landmark Cement in Bankura to showcase them to agents and depositors and convince them that the Saradha Group had diversified interests.
4.
As part of its corporate social responsibility program, Saradha Group donated motorcycles to the Kolkata Police.
On 19 July 2011, it persuaded Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, to use its ambulances and motorcycles for the Jangalmahal area of West Midnapore.
To further etch itself in the socio-cultural milieu of Bengal, Saradha Group invested in football rivals and the best-known football clubs in Bengal : - Mohun Bagan A.C. (Rupees 18 million in 2010–11) and East Bengal F.C. (Rupees 35 million since 2010).
The group also sponsored various Durga Puja celebrations organised by local political leaders.
Next - Part : 7. Political patronage -
Thank you for reading
JAIHIND.
To be continued......
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