Sebi to auction 59 properties of Royal Twinkle, Citrus Check Inns in Feb

New Delhi, Jan 10 () Capital markets regulator Sebi has lined up as many as 59 properties of Royal Twinkle Star Club and Citrus Check Inns for an auction next month at a reserve price of over Rs 213 crore.

The move is part of Sebi's effort to recover funds worth thousands of crores of rupees raised by the companies in the garb of sham 'timeshare' holiday plans.

The decision comes following directions of the Supreme Court, which in December 2019 directed the sale-cum-monitoring committee headed by retired Justice J P Devdhar to proceed with the sale of 114 properties of the companies within six months.

In a notice, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said it will auction 59 properties of the companies on February 10 at a reserve price of a little over Rs 213 crore.

The properties to go under the hammer include hotels, residential flats, office premises and land parcels in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, New Delhi, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman.

Earlier this month, Sebi announced auction of four properties of the companies at a reserve price of over Rs 108 crore on January 23. During November-December, four properties of Royal Twinkle and Citrus Check Inns were auctioned at a reserve price of Rs 136 crore.

In December 2018, Sebi had imposed a penalty of Rs 50 lakh on Citrus Check Inns and its directors for non-compliance with its order, wherein it had barred them from raising funds from the public.

Sebi had received several investor complaints against Citrus alleging that directors of Royal Twinkle were now running their collective investment scheme (CIS) through Citrus.

In August 2015, the regulator had imposed a four-year ban on Royal Twinkle and its four directors for illegally raising over Rs 2,656 crore in the garb of sham 'timeshare' holiday plans.

Besides, it had directed the company and its officials to refund the money along with promised returns to the investors in three months. SP ANU ANU