Major Financial Scams in India Between 2000-2010 (Part-2)

1. Ketan Parekh securities scam 2001

Ketan Parekh was a trainee at GrowMore, Harshad Mehta’s company. He was a suspect in several frauds in which Growmore was involved. When the dot-com bubble burst in the late 1990s, he began investing in low-liquidity IT and telecom firms. Because of the significant increase in the value of K-10 stocks, brokers and fund managers began to heavily invest in K-10 stocks. He was barred from trading for 14 years for fraudulently rigging the pricing of K-10 shares.

2. Stamp Paper Scam 2003

Abdul Karim Telgi discovered in 2003 that the Stamp Paper office was the most unmonitored government department at the time. He had ties to the underworld, as well as government officials and politicians. Both of them learned in the 1980s that stamp papers were required for a host for legal purposes. They understood that they could achieve their goals through politicians and government officials.

3. Punjab City-Centre Project Scam (₹15 billion) 2006

The multi-crore Ludhiana City Centre project, which has been stopped due to political tussles and accounting fraud, was supposed to elevate this industrial hub into the league of the country’s larger cities. The multi-crore housing-commercial project would be built on 25.59 acres of prime land in Ludhiana.

4. Vasundhara Raje Deendayal Upadhyaya Trust land scam 2006

In Rajasthan, India, the Deendayal Upadhyaya Trust is a charitable trust. By breaking every rule, the trust was given prime land at 95% concessional rates. Following a media uproar, the land was returned, and corruption charges were filed.

5. 2G Spectrum Case 2007

In 2008, Communication and Information Technology Minister A. Raja allocated 122 licenses of 2G spectrum with a fixed price option, and he imposed a condition that favored some telecom companies. He sold the license for a very low price, with no rules or regulations. The Indian government suffered a loss of 1.76 lakh crore as a result of this.

6. Austral Coke Scam 2009

Austral Coke & Projects announced the acquisition of a 50% stake in Mozambique’s Osho Gremach Mining Limitada. The low-ash metallurgical coke manufacturer tampered with books by displaying fraudulent purchases and sales to 29 companies associated with Kolkata-based Ajit Kumar Jindal.

7. Satyam Scandal 2009

Satyam Computers, once India’s IT crown jewel, is now embroiled in the country’s biggest corporate scandal. Satyam’s CEO admitted to a $1.47 billion (Rs. 7,800 crores) fraud scheme. Raju and his brother hid the truth from the company’s board of directors, top management, and auditors.