An army officer narrates his harrowing tale of how his life savings got wiped out at Motilal Oswal, his victory in consumer courts and how SEBI took the brokers’ side despite clear grounds of fraud and forgery. And SEBI is supposed to protect investors’ interests!
The very first sentence in The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Act, 1992 states as follows:
”An Act to provide for the establishment of a Board to protect the interests of investors in securities and to promote the development of, and to regulate, the securities market and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto”.
Has SEBI lived upto this? Or does it work for the big guns of the industry. Hear my story and you be the judge.
I opened an account with Motilal Oswal Securities (MOSL) on 14 February 2006. Three months later, by 26 May 2006, I got wiped out. I had become a victim of unauthorised trading. I signed NO delivery instruction slips and yet my stocks were sold. I still wonder how! The broker will not tell me how he managed to dispose off my stocks without my authorisation/delivery instruction slip. My life savings were liquidated. I was seriously considering suicide. It took me two years to come out of the shock and the consequent severe setback to my health. Even to this day I am unable to comprehend how a broker can do it so audaciously and still get away. Unbelievable but true.
SEBI is fully aware of such a rampant practice and has issued a notification about it a year ago. (http://www.sebi.gov.in/cms/sebi_data/attachdocs/1314271320898.pdf )
I went to District Consumer Forum. I have never been to any court in my life up until then. My lawyer lost the case. Most lawyers do not even know what demat is. I went on to appeal to the state commission, in Bangalore. This time I decided to argue the case myself. The judge was convinced of my plea and sent the case back to District Forum for retrial, directing all evidences and witnesses be examined thoroughly.
The retrial was exhaustive and took a long time. At the fag end of the retrial, for the first time, MOSL stated that the sale was done on the basis of Power Of Attorney (POA) given by me. This was a surprise not only to me but also to the court to whom MOSL had earlier given the copies of agreements, under oath, which did not contain any POA. I never signed any POA and a senior MOSL official gave a letter in writing to the court to that effect!
The District Forum found out that the POA turned out to be bogus and gave a speaking judgement in my favour, pointing out all the flaws and infirmities, in detail, covering about four pages on the POA alone. My signature, it noted, was a photocopy as I never signed any POA. This judgement was later fully upheld by the state commission.
On 7 July 2011, I lodged a complaint to SEBI (vide SCORES-SEBIE/MH11/0000764/1) through its SCORES redressal mechanism, and, along with it, I sent the full judgement copy. On 21 April 2012, after nine and a half months (!), SEBI disposed off my complaint in an evasive and indifferent manner. I thought SEBI will be outraged to hear that stocks are sold away on the basis of such bogus and fraudulent POA. I was so wrong! SEBI was least perturbed as if it was a routine matter to them.
SEBI acted like a post office—it sent my SCORES complaint to CDSL to whom MOSL, this time, produced an entirely different POA, somewhat correcting the mistakes pointed out by the consumer court, again with my signature photocopied. Strangely, neither CDSL nor SEBI found it odd and weird that any one would sign two POAs on the same day for the same purpose! Both POAs did not have proper identifiable witnesses. The date of signing the document was overwritten and the place was scribbled in one and absent in the other. In the second POA, the seal of the authorised signatory is not MOSL while the first POA, it is different from the one that is in the main agreement.
If only our SEBI is fair and strong, will any broker dare indulge in such acts which erode the very sanctity of stock market operations of our country.
SEBI just did not want to be bothered about looking into all this, despite nine and a half months, an inordinate time it had taken. What did SEBI do for nine and a half months with my complaint? CDSL, predictably, upheld the broker's version and SEBI did the post office act of forwarding that to me. Will any broker own up to the crime committed? Why did SEBI fail to apply its mind?
Had SEBI applied its mind, it would not have taken it more than nine and a half days to verify and come out with a ruling worthy of the trust and mandate conferred on it by the nation. Even an illiterate person would have discerned the blatant fraud, which is so very obvious, prima-facie. Yet SEBI chose to be blind, intentionally or otherwise.
When I make such a serious complaint, even providing all the proof, the least I expected was to be told by SEBI whether my complaint is valid or not. If valid, I am entitled to know that action is taken by SEBI. If not, I am entitled to know the reason. Consumer courts did a far more superior, better and speedier professional job than SEBI.
After seeing the indifferent and callous way SEBI disposed off my complaint, I wrote to all the concerned SEBI officials, with a copy to the Chairman, SEBI. No one, including, of course, the Chairman cared to reply, one way or the other. I wonder why? Is this the way SEBI believes in 'protecting investor interests'?
I feel exasperated that I am left with no other option except to write this open letter. I am enclosing copy of my mail addressed to no less a person than President of India himself, who until recently was the finance minister. I thought it is my duty to let the President know, especially when there is a call to induct more investors by giving tax incentives.
Will SEBI ‘protect the interests of investors '? Will investors also have to run from pillar to post, because of an indifferent SEBI? Will they also get the same apathetic treatment after they lose everything and approach SEBI for justice?
(Wing Commander CR Mohan Raj VM [Retd] is a winner of Vayu Sena Medal [Presidential Award] for gallantry in the Indo-Pak war in 1971.)
Inside story of the National Stock Exchange’s amazing success, leading to hubris, regulatory capture and algo scam
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Motilal Oswal is an fraud broker. Employing some people who are encouraging the public to invest and then they are looting the hard earned money of people. SEBI seems to be in company with these brokers. they are not concerned with the public because they are getting monitary support from these crocks.. Be careful and they should be exposed on national level. Govt should take some strict action on their anti social activities...
Please share your email ID.
I) In stead of one broker open account with multiple brokers dividing your investment. When a broker sees huge money he is tempted to carry out unauthorised trade.
II) Tell your broker strictly not to do ant trade on their own. You regularly check your trades and warn them in case of any unauthorised trade.
III) Try to open account in head office in stead of small brach offices. Normally branch offices have a target and they are desparate to meet the target.
We just wonder what's the rate paid by the brokers to overlook a case against them. And we call prostitutes immoral! What a double standard society we are.
Rule of law? There is none in India.
Investors should pull their capital out of India. Get the Dickenson out of Motilal and put of India. Use the RBI liberalized remittance scheme and park your assets in Singapore dollars in Singapore where there is asset protection and rule of law.
I was introduced to Portfolio Management Services with ING by my RM at ICICI Securities and got a profit of Rs. 1 lac for an investment of Rs. 10 lacs within 6 months. Based on this concept the RM of ICICI securities when he joined Member’s Company (with whom the present dispute rests) has asked me to transfer my Demat shares worth nearly 23 lacs on 3-9-10 held at ICICI Sec to his company’s branch office at Pune for which he will provide a monthly earnings of Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 35,000 per month and accordingly entered into Member-Client agreement. He asked for Rs. 5000 per month as service charges to be paid as advance for every month. I have remitted Rs. 5000 to his ICICI account in the end of Aug 2010.
The member started trading in my account without having any Orders placed on them and created a loss of more than Rs. 1 lac within the first 20 working days of opening the account with them. Alarmed I have given instructions through email on 18-10-10 to stop transactions and as per a clause in Member Client Agreement, they are not supposed to carry any transactions without my written consent to start transactions. However they continued to trade as usual and increased the losses month after month staggering at Rs. 8 lacs within 6 months. (Value of trades appr. Rs. 23 crores) The RM asked me not to respond to any of SMSes, tale-confirmations and Contract notes sent by the member periodically since they are meant only for information and nothing to do with profit generation. I have written all together 22 emails (including a few SOS mails) followed by telephonic talks with RM and AVP during the period accusing them of violating their promise of generating the profit of Rs. 30000 to Rs. 35000 per month and repeatedly asked them to stop transactions. But none of the emails were responded by their personnel at Pune. Having frustrated by their attitude I have finally decided to take up the matter with their complaint cell at Mumbai and also with SEBI. Alarmed by my this action, the AVP and RM of Pune met me at Pune railway station (as I was leaving for Chennai) and persuaded me not to escalate the matter and they will start creating profits with immediate effect. They have also sent me an email to this effect on 23-3-11 and in fact generated a profit of appr Rs. 30000 in the subsequent month.
However having bitterly tasted their attitude, I wished to continue my tirade with their Mumbai office and SEBI. SEBI has directed me to take up the matter with BSE and NSE respectively through the laid down arbitration procedures. Though lacking the basic knowledge of fighting the case, I have personally attended IGRC meeting and 3 Arbitration proceedings, where the legal head of Member’s Mumbai branch along with an advocate appointed by them started refuting all my charges. Instead of providing suitable answer as to why their Pune personnel kept silent on my various emails and stop transactions instructions, they claimed that (1) no such verbal promise was made by their personnel, (2) they do not have any mechanism to record the telephonic orders said to have been placed by me, (3) that I have changed my mind after writing email and gave contrary instructions by phone to their personnel or the Member’s personnel met me each time I wrote an email at my residence and they claimed I have asked them to continue to trade (both the versions are totally false) and continued to placed orders. They do not have any telephonic transcripts for such conversations nor have they any recorded minutes of the meeting held with me and circulated to me by email or otherwise.
The BSE arbitration Committee has asked me after 3 meetings to come out clearly on the extent of claim amount from the transactions taken place and to my specific query , they said they cannot entertain my claim based on cheating, Forgery (my signatures were forged by the Member on 2 documents related to NSE), manipulation of telephonic transcripts ( the Member has produced the telephonic transcripts of post transactions details shared by the Member’s Pune personnel with me, (which I strongly believe are manipulated) which the Member is strongly contending as enough proof along with the Contract notes sent by them. They advised me to take through courts for such acts of the Member.
I have to engage the services of a chartered account to fulfill the requirement of arbitrators and the chartered accounted pointed out certain wrong transactions done by the Member and put up the claim. The award passed by the Arbitration committee went against me and I challenged the award by an Appeal to Arbitration through an advocate who also objected to the member trading the same scrip both in BSE and NSE and other errors done by the Member. The Award on my appeal was also gone against me and I was advised to seek the justice through High court. The claim amount involved in BSE is appr. 2.3 lacs.
So far I have not started my Arbitration proceedings with NSE where my claim amount is appr. 8 lacs.
Pl clarify:
Is it possible to take up the matter related to BSE with Consumer forum at Pune on the grounds of cheating, forgery and manipulation of voice recordings, (since the tradings were handled by Pune branch personnel) though the Jurisdiction as per Member-client agreement is Mumbai?
Since the transactions were conducted without any Orders placed by me (the direct evidence is not available with Member), keeping the client in dark by deliberately not replying to any of the Client’s emails, forging of my signatures, manipulation of telephonic transcripts, can I take up the matter related to my claim with NSE also through Consumer court without undergoing the tedious procedures of Arbitrations, appeal with NSE, since I have not yet started my arbitration proceedings with NSE. (It took more than a year in BSE to undergo Arbitration proceedings and Appeal)
During my IGRC meeting with BSE, one of the judges clarified that the telephonic transcripts are not considered as evidence. Is it true?
The award on my appeal was dated on 8-10-12. What is the permitted time limit to make an appeal in Consumer court?
GJ Chary.
pune
( 1 ) All brokers and Listed Companies Periodically i.e. Quarterly to send to clients Details of Shares in Demat A/C or Phisical Shares.This avoids
Troubles of Wing commader and all Share Holders.This Rule exist in F&O Market Transactions.Companies addresses and Registrars are Changing .RBI instructed Banks to follow it.All Regulators ,if informing perodically to concerned Investors Hardships gets Mitigated.On Computerisation of all records,informing Concerned becomes easy atleast to their E-Mail IDs.
Motilal Oswal Shall be Penalised heavily for selling his Shares and instead of accepting their mistake and settling with him ,doomed to try to create Forged Document and Harass him.