The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) on Friday alleged that despite tall talks of both the Union and State Governments, neither the chit fund firms are punished nor the victims compensated as yet; rather people who invested in these companies are betrayed.

In a Press conference, PCC media cell head Ganeswar Behera lamented that both the Governments seem to have protected the interest of ponzi firms than protecting the interest of depositors.

Behera raised nine questions and demanded that if the Government fails to pay back the deposits of the victims, it must resign. During the last seven years, the Government paid something around Rs 10 crore to only seven thousand people, meaning the Government, despite its promise has not spent even 10 per cent of the Rs 300-crore Corpus Fund set for this purpose. What has happened about the properties of thousand of crores seized from the chit fund companies, he asked.

Moreover, the State Government abruptly closed the work of the Das Commission on February 4, 2019 despite the scrutiny of over eight lakh affidavits of depositors was underway.

Behera said that the Special Court set up under the Odisha Investors’ Protection Act 2011 in its judgement on February 26, 2011 had ordered the Government to distribute the amount received from the tender of Seashore company worth Rs 635 crore among depositors, but the court’s order was not followed.

On the other hand, the State Government received Rs 5 crore towards stamp duty from as many as 30 lakh depositors for filing their affidavits with the Das Commission.

Behera also questioned as to what happened to the important hard disks containing information on financial transactions, etc., seized by the Crime Branch from the ponzi firms.