Bengaluru: The State Government has said that it will confiscate properties of finance companies which cheat investors on the promise of high returns.

Addressing a press meet here yesterday, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T.B. Jayachandra said that many companies such as Maithri Plantation Horticulture (P) Ltd., Agri Gold, Green Buds etc., had cheated investors to the tune of crores of rupees, all collecting money from gullible people, especially from rural areas and middle class families in urban areas. These companies are found to have purchased properties in neighbouring States and duped the people of Karnataka. The State Government has asked the Chief Secretary to confiscate the properties of finance companies and Institutions which have cheated the investors of the State, he said and added that the CID has identified such finance companies that operated in the State.

Asserting that the Government was determined to confiscate the properties of defaulting finance companies, Jayachandra said that preliminary investigation has revealed that Maithri Plantation had collected about Rs. 1,000 crore and Agri Gold, about Rs. 500 crore from the people of the State, who had invested in the hope of getting good returns. But these companies have cheated  the customer by not making payments to depositors whose investment had matured, he said.

Pointing out that 18 States have enacted tough laws to check investment in private finance companies and Institutions, he urged the Centre to enact a Law that gives power to the RBI to regulate such finance companies, which are found to cheat gullible public. He further said, the issue will be taken up at the next Cabinet meeting, where the Centre will be asked to order a CBI or an ED probe into the Institutions and added that the State Govt. was mulling on making amendments to the existing Law, in order to safe guard the interest of investors.