No wrongdoing by officials in shut schemes: Franklin Templeton on SEBI notice

New Delhi, March 4 : With SEBI issuing showcause notices to Franklin Templeton Asset Management Company (AMC), and its key managerial employees and trustees over alleged fraud and unfair trade, a spokesperson of the company said that none of the key persons have redeemed any units post the trustees taking the in-principle decision to wind-up six debt mutual fund schemes in April last year.
In a detailed response to the showcause notice issued by SEBI, the company said, “We believe it would be inappropriate to comment further on speculation and request the investors not to draw conclusions based on conjecture.” The schemes under winding up continue to have significant investment from the employees and management of Franklin Templeton and all redemption applications submitted by the unit-holders until April 23, 2020 were processed in the normal course of business, as per the spokesperson.
“Our interests remain aligned with those of our investors. None of the key persons have redeemed any units post the trustees taking the in-principle decision to wind-up the schemes,” said the company.
As per the fund house, its focus remains on returning monies to the unit-holders at the earliest, by supporting the SBI Mutual Fund management in the monetisation process.
The schemes have already distributed Rs 9,122 crore to the investors and have accrued another Rs 1,180 crore in cash as on February 26, 2021.