SEBI on Friday disposed of show-cause notices against six former officials of NSEL, FTIL and MCX after charges of insider-trading could not be established.
SEBI, in its earlier order in 2017, had alleged that six individuals avoided losses by selling shares of MCX between October 2012 and July 2013 prior to the NSEL fiasco, while in possession of unpublished price-sensitive information (UPSI). The info pertained to suspension of trading at the NSEL on July 31, 2013, when the bourse was tackling a payment crisis.
The officials who have now been given a clean chit include former FTIL CFO Devendra Kumar Agrawal, ex-NSEL CFO Shashidharan Kotian, and ex-FIL Chief Business Officer Paras Ajmera
Three others are Pradeep Kumar Mishra, former AVP, Product Development and Collateral Management, NSEL; Dilip Tambe, Senior Vice-President, Communications, FTIL, and Om Prakash Agarwal, former AVP, Business Development, NSEL.
This follows SEBI revoking interim orders against many individuals in January after alleged violation of some other provisions of insider-trading rules could not be proved.
Revocation of order
SEBI’s former WTM S Raman, through two separate orders in August 2017, had impounded ₹125 crore earned by 13 persons through alleged insider-trading in MCX and its erstwhile promoter FTIL, with the help of UPSI in the NSEL case.
However, the order was revoked by SEBI this year in January.
The six individuals brought to SEBI’s attention the fact that its WTM, through separate proceedings on January 5 on the same set of facts and allegations, had exonerated certain individuals in the scrip of MCX. Since they did not trade in MCX shares while in possession of UPSI (unpublicised sensitive information), the violation of insider-trading regulations could not proved against them, the regulator noted in the present order.
“I have also gone through the charges levelled against the noticee(s) in the SCN (show-cause notice) which have arisen out of the set of facts identical to that of the order pronounced by the WTM and I do not find any reason to disagree with the view taken by the WTM,” SEBI Adjudicating Officer Prasanta Mahapatra said.