After three scathing orders passed by the High Court of Karnataka for not attaching properties of the former Minister R. Roshan Baig in connection with the IMA scam, the State government on Friday told the court that it had now decided to attach his properties prima facie terming him as one among the promoters of I Monetary Advisory (IMA) Group of companies.
“The State government prima facie of the opinion that ex-MLA R. Roshan Baig has acted as a promoter, played a key role in promotion of IMA Group and its business activities, and has obtained financial gain from the said company,” stated the decision taken by the government on June 17, 2021.
‘Identify properties’
The government has also asked the Competent Authority in the IMA case to identify movable and immovable properties of Mr. Baig for the purpose of attaching them under the provisions of the Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments Act, 2004.
Also, the government directed the Commissioner of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and the deputy commissioners of Bengaluru Urban and Bengaluru Rural districts to identify the properties belonging to Mr. Baig and submit their particulars for attaching them.
The government informed the court that attachment orders would be issued soon after receipt of particulars from the BBMP Commissioner and the deputy commissioners.
Meanwhile, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Suraj Govindaraj, before whom the government’s decision to attach properties of Mr. Baig was submitted, orally observed that the government decided to attach properties only after three orders by the court questioning non-attaching of properties even after intimation from the Competent Authority since March this year.
When the Bench observed that the government could have straight away acted to attach properties based on Mr. Baig’s assets declaration made in his nomination papers filed while contesting elections, the government counsel said that proper boundaries and accurate details were required for attaching immovable properties and hence details were sought from the authorities.
School development
On the issue of ₹12.82 crore that the IMA Group had spent for redevelopment and maintenance of V.K. Obaidullah Government School at Shivajinagar, the Bench questioned the government’s stand that there was no need to return the money to investors as it was received as “donation” from the company.
Asking what would have been the government’s action if the company had “donated” such a huge sum to a private school, the Bench said it would go into the legal issue on whether “donation” received from IMA would have to be returned to investors or not.
Published - June 26, 2021 12:36 am IST
