Capital market regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has disposed of the two show cause notices issued against former broker Sharekhan Commodities without any directions in the scam on the National Spot Exchange.
The show cause notice was issued following an investigation into whether the entity was a “fit and proper person” to continue to hold a brokerage registration.
SEBI’s order on Friday stated that Sharekhan Commodities has surrendered its certificate of registration. The surrender application was approved by SEBI on May 29, 2018.
The action against the broking firm was approved on September 21, 2018, by when the registration had already been surrendered, said SEBI.
SEBI had subsequently filed a complaint to EOW dated September 24, 2018, and an FIR was filed by SEBI on September 28, 2018, including the name of the broking firm.
In light of the surrender of certificate of the registration and acceptance by SEBI, the present proceedings determining whether the Noticee is a ‘fit and proper’ entity are rendered infructuous. “Hence, I am not inclined to pass any directions against the Noticee,” said SEBI.
Sebi started proceedings against Sharekhan after the latter was found to have facilitated the trading of the now-banned ‘paired contracts’ as a member of the National Spot Exchange.
Operations of NSEL were suspended on August 6, 2013, after investigations found that there were physical commodities not available for delivery, and the paired contracts were being offered as an alternative to fixed deposits with assured returns, among other things.