SEBI to e-auction 47 luxury cars of PACL on August 30

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 22

Markets regulator SEBI will e-auction 47 high-end luxury cars and SUVs owned by PACL (formerly Pearls Agrotech Corp) through MSTC, a Government of India Enterprise. 

The cars include a Rolls Royce, Bentley, Land Cruiser, eight Audis, six BMWs, four Range Rovers, Porsche Cayenne, Jaguars and Mercedes, among others. The e-auction is scheduled to be held on August 30.

Among the other vehicles to be auctioned include Volvo (3), Mitsubishi Pajero (3), Toyota Fortuner (6), Toyota Camry (1), Lexus (1), Honda CRV (2), Chevrolet Captiva (1) and Volkswagen Touareg (2). 

The possession of the vehicles shows the fascination of the people running the company.

The vehicles are being put on auction by the SEBI under the aegis of Supreme Court-appointed committee headed by retired Chief Justice of India RM Lodha. The Lodha committee is supervising the process of selling PACL’s assets owned by the key accused Nirmal Singh Bhangoo. 

The PACL had raised Rs 49,100 crore from nearly five crore investors. If the interest component and other charges are taken into consideration, the total amount due would be around Rs 55,000 crore.

In compliance of the Supreme Court order, the Committee is arranging sale of vehicles registered in the name of PACL Ltd. Documents of the vehicles were seized by the Central Bureau of Investigation. 

The first lot of 43 vehicles was thrown open for inspection on Sunday by potential bidders in Badkhalsa village near Sonepat in Haryana. The other four vehicles, which are at a Gurgaon workshop (3) and at Paschim Vihar, Delhi (1), will be available for inspection on Friday and Sunday respectively later this week. The last date of submission of pre-bid earnest money is August 29, 2016. Interested persons or bidders are required to deposit a pre-bid amount of Rs 2 lakh to participate in the auction process. In all, 47 high-end luxury cars are up for grabs. However, insiders say the success of this auction will be a little step in the PACL recovery process, which owes around Rs 55,000 crore to the investors.