Unitech Case: Sebi imposes penalty worth ₹27 lakh on 5 entities. Here’s why

The fine of ₹10 lakh on Sanjay Bahadur, ₹6 lakh on Rana Rajesh Gangahar, ₹5 lakh on Ravi Aiyar, and ₹3 lakh each on Mayfair Capital Pvt Ltd and Ravinder Singhania have been imposed by SEBI. 

The order came after a SEBI probe in the scrip of Unitech during the period October 2008 to March 2009.

During the investigation, the regulator found that Ravinder, Ravi, and Rana Rajesh being the designated directors/employees of Unitech have carried out the trades in the company. They maintained that they have obtained pre-clearance for the trades, however, they failed to maintain a copy for the same. Bahadur had not sought pre-clearances for the trades he carried out in the shares of Unitech.

Being the designated employees of the company, they were required to comply with the provisions of pre-clearance of trades in terms of the model code of conduct and rules framed by the company. However, they failed to follow these norms and violated the PIT (Prohibition of Insider Trading) rules, as per PTI reports. 

The regulator also informed that Bahadur and Ravinder bought shares of the company and then sold the shares held by both of them. Subsequently, they were required to file the disclosures for change in holdings in the scrip to the company and the stock exchanges. However, Bahadur and Ravinder failed to do that, thereby violating the PIT norms.

Meanwhile, the regulator also observed that Mayfair Capital Pvt Ltd (MCPL) shareholding was diluted by 2.94 percent in the company because of the invocation of the pledge of shares by the lenders with whom the shares were pledged.

MCPL, Mayfair Investments Pvt Ltd and Prakausali are the promoter entities of Unitech.

Following this, Unitech was informed to provide the details of disclosures received from Mayfair with respect to the pledge and invocation of pledges of shares of the company. However, it has also failed to reply and further Mayfair has neither filed a reply to the show cause notice (SCN) nor made submissions during the hearing.

(With PTI inputs)