Sebi debars Subhash Chandra, Punit Goenka from holding key positions

The Securities and Change Board of India (Sebi) on Monday debarred Zee Leisure Enterprises (Zee) promoter and Essel group Chairman Subhash Chandra and Managing Director (MD) and Chief Govt Officer (CEO) Punit Goenka from holding key positions in any listed firm for allegedly diverting property of Essel Group firms.

The matter pertains to the Letter of Consolation (LoC) granted by Chandra in September 2018 in direction of credit score services taken by sure group firms from YES Financial institution. The credit score amounted to Rs 200 crore.

The allegations are that these ensures got with out approval from the board and had been used to siphon off funds by the promoters.

Calling for additional investigation, Sebi noticed the funds had adopted a circuitous route, by which they originated in Zee or listed firms of Essel Group, handed by way of numerous entities owned or managed by the promoter household, and in the end ended up with Zee.

“…. (They) created a façade by way of sham entries to misrepresent to the buyers in addition to the regulator that cash had been returned by affiliate entities, whereas in actuality, it was Zee’s personal funds which (had been) rotated by way of a number of layers to lastly finish in Zee’s account,” famous Sebi Entire-time Member Ashwani Bhatia within the order.

Within the interim order, Sebi, the regulator, has directed Zee to position the order with the board of administrators inside seven days. Additional, Chandra and Goenka have been given a window of 21 days to submit their objections or replies to the allegations earlier than Sebi.

“The siphoning of funds seems to be a well-planned scheme since, in some cases, the layering of transactions concerned utilizing as many as 13 entities as (pass-through) entities inside a brief interval of two days solely,” famous Sebi.

The market watchdog had initiated the probe following the resignation of two unbiased administrators from the corporate in November 2019. Certainly one of them had alleged the squaring off of the loans was carried out with out approval from the board.

Between FY19 and FY23, the promoter shareholding within the firm dropped from 41.62 per cent to solely 3.99 per cent.

Sebi has additionally identified the entities utilized in these layers had been widespread to those used for fund diversion in Shirpur Gold Refinery, one other Essel Group-listed firm. In April, Sebi had issued an interim order within the matter of Shirpur for allegedly diverting funds.

Final month, the inventory exchanges had knowledgeable the Nationwide Firm Legislation Tribunal (NCLT) concerning the order and strictures handed by Sebi for alleged fraudulent practices and the manipulation of economic statements of Shirpur.

The tribunal had been deciding on the proposed merger between media behemoths Zee Leisure and Sony Photos Networks India.