IMA Scam:Government to seize Baig’s assets.
Bangaluru: The government informed the High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday that on July 6, 2021, it issued a notification attaching around 20 immovable and movable assets of former Minister R. Roshan Baig located in various parts of the city in connection with his alleged involvement in the IMA group of companies’ scam.
In addition, the government issued a notification under the Karnataka Protection of Depositors’ Interests in Financial Establishments Act, 2004, attaching a sum of 62.26 crore paid in excess to the IMA group’s top depositors who had received amounts in excess of their principal deposit amounts from the IMA group’s deposits.
The copies of the notifications were submitted before a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Suraj Govindaraj during the hearing of a batch of PIL petitions related to the scam.
The attached assets were those declared by Mr. Baig along with his nomination papers when contesting elections to the State Assembly in 2018 and the present market value of these properties are yet to be declared after being assessed by the jurisdictional sub-registrars, it was stated in the notification. The notification has also indicated the values of these properties, around ₹15-₹16 crore, as declared by Mr. Baig in his affidavit filed before the Election Commission of India.
Meanwhile, the Bench said that it would decide the issue on fate of ₹12.82 crore spent by IMA council, a charitable arm of IMA group, for redevelopment and maintenance of V.K. Obaidullah Government School in Shivajinagar. The government has opposed the view of the Competent Authority (CA) that the school building has to be attached if the Education Department cannot return the ₹12.82 crore spent by the IMA council.
Because the government opposes the CA’s views, senior IAS officer Harsh Gupta, the Bench said it will consider whether the CA should be allowed to hire his own lawyer instead of being represented by the government’s lawyer.
