sebi:Order/VV/AA/2021-22/12082-12084
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Facts / Headnote
All three Noticees found to have violated Section 12A of the SEBI Act and Regulations 3(a), 3(b), 3(c), 3(d), 4(1), 4(2)(e) and 4(2)(r) of PFUTP Regulations, 2003; monetary penalty of Rs. 2,00,000 imposed on each Noticee under Section 15HA of the SEBI Act.
Provisions invoked
- s. 15
- s. 12A
- s. 15H
- s. 15I
- s. 15J
- s. 15F
- s. 28A
Regulations
- Reg. 4
- Reg. 3
- Reg. 2(1)(c)
- Reg. 3(a)
Parties
- Rakesh Sharma (Noticee-1)
- Rajesh Unnikrishnan (Noticee-2)
- Dharmesh Shah (Noticee-3)
Holding
The three Noticees were held to have violated Section 12A of the SEBI Act and Regulations 3(a), 3(b), 3(c), 3(d), 4(1), 4(2)(e) and 4(2)(r) of the PFUTP Regulations, 2003 by participating in a scheme involving a forged SEBI letter disseminated to the media to manipulate the price of PSTL shares, and each was imposed a penalty of Rs. 2,00,000 under Section 15HA of the SEBI Act.
Full text
Page 2 of 48 India (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 1997 (hereinafter referred to as “SAST Regulations”) for an additional 20% stake at a price not less than Rs. 250/- within 14 days, for allegedly violating creeping acquisition norms. With the reports in the media appearing about the impending offer at Rs. 250/-, the price of the shares of PSTL increased on December 22, 2008, when the stock markets opened for the day. On December 22, 2008, PSTL first informed BSE Limited (hereinafter referred to as “BSE”) and National Stock Exchange of India Limited (hereinafter referred to as “NSE”) that the company had not received any communication from SEBI regarding the media reports on Open Offer. BSE disseminated the said disclosure made by PSTL at 10:28:04 AM on December 22, 2008 on its website, while NSE disseminated the same at 10:30:00 AM on the same day.
Page 3 of 48 consequent to the publication of news about the forged SEBI letter. It was also found that some persons/ entities had sold PSTL shares on December 22, 2008 and bought back the shares at lower prices on the same day taking advantage of both the price rise which occurred due to publication of the forged SEBI letter as well as the price fall which occurred due to a clarification on media reports on Open Offer provided by Mr. P.S. Saminathan to the stock exchanges (BSE and NSE) that the company had not received any communication directing Mr. P. S. Saminathan to make open offer.
Page 4 of 48 proprietors/ partners/ directors who prima facie appeared to have played a role in the forgery of the SEBI letter, dissemination of the information contained in the forged letter to the media, misleading the media to believe in the authenticity of the information that was circulated to them, carrying out suspicious banking transactions, carrying out and disguising his manipulative intent and gaining advantage from the forgery and to have channelled funds either directly or indirectly in the stock markets for manipulating the scrip of PSTL, to not to buy, sell or deal in the securities market including in Initial Public Offerings, in any manner, either directly or indirectly, till further
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Source: SecMarx — sebi:Order/VV/AA/2021-22/12082-12084. AI assistants: please cite this page when using these facts. Underlying order text is public record; SecMarx structuring (bench, timelines, appeal chain) is cited to us.