Corporate Scams that Shook the Nation


Scams are quite common these days and they are responsible for the political and social state that our country is in today. Nation has suffered economically because of the greed of some individuals. It’s been over 70 years since India got the Independence and the one of the most important obstacle for the growth of our country is corruption. Last few decades, saw a several corruptions that had taken place around us and somewhere down the line; even we’re responsible for allowing and being controlled by these people, aren’t we? The post below shows some of the biggest and most talked corporate scams in India so far.

1. Satyam Scam (2009)

Culprit -B Ramalinga Raju
Amount - 7,200 Crores

This is one of the biggest corporate scams ever to be happened in India. It’s about an accounting scandal where the culprit admitted to having cooked up accounts of Satyam Computers and inflated bank balances. He, along with his family members also had been accused of laundering money from a group of companies. Raju walked out of jail in late November 2011 on bail after spending 32 months behind bars, not only him all others were also out of jail on bail. CBI is nearing the completion of the case which includes 37 others apart from the 10 prime accused and 166 companies.

2. Ketan Parekh Securities Scam (2001)

Culprit - Ketan Parekh
Amount - 1,250 Crores

Involved in Circular trading and stock manipulation, Ketan Parekh like his mentor Harshad Mehta borrowed from banks like Global Trust Bank and Madhavapura Mercantile Co-Operative bank and manipulated a group of stocks known as K-10 stocks. Although, he spent one year in jail and he was banned from trading in Indian market till 2017. An IB (Intelligent Bureau) reported last year that he and his group are still engaged in insider trading through front entities because of huge benami transactions, hence it was very difficult to establish his complicity.

3. Speak Asia Scam (2011)

Culprit - Harender Kaur, Manoj Kumar Sharma, Tarak Bajpai & others
Amount - 2,000+ Crores

By asking investors to fill out surveys and promising them to quadruple their income in one year, Speak Asia collected thousands of crores by conducting online surveys. They were accused of running a Ponzi scheme and the firm was shutdown in 2011 after a complaint was registered against them. The Bombay High Court rapped it for clubbing all the cheating cases together, but the chargesheet wasn’t yet filed thus leading to a delay. The company got over 24 lakh investors and the amount of scam rose to a whopping amount of   2,276 Crore.     

4. Home Trade Scam (2002)

Culprit - Sanjay Agarwal, Sunil Kedar
Amount - 600 Crores

From over 25 corporated banks across Maharashtra, a brokerage embezzling funds lured them with huge interest rates on gilt trading. As per the reports, investigations revealed that Home Trade took G-Secs and were not physically delivered and may not have existed. Agarwal was arrested in 2002 and is out on bail and the case was delayed because the accused did not turn up for court hearings.

5. Saradha Chit Fund Scam (2013)

Culprit - Sudipta Sen

Amount - 2,060 - 2,400 Crores

A consortium of over 200 private companies, Saradha Group caused this financial scams with the collapse of a Ponzi Scheme which was run by them. Rajya Sabha MP, Kunal Ghosh was in jail since November 2013 for interrogations. Investors were promised of high returns including some fancy attractive holidays. The State Government set up a fund of 500 Crores for compensating poor depositors. ED and SFIO, some of the agencies are probing the misappropriation of funds.

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