SEBI on Tuesday imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on Mr G. Jayaraman, Compliance Officer of the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services Ltd for his failure to adhere to market regulations.
“After taking into consideration all the facts and circumstances of the case... impose a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on the noticee (Mr G. Jayaraman) in terms of Section 15 HB of the SEBI Act...,” the SEBI said in an order.
Section 15 HB states that “Whoever fails to comply with any provision of this Act, the rules or the regulations made or directions issued by the board... shall be liable to a penalty which may extend to one crore rupees.”
Mr Jayaraman has been directed to submit the penalty amount within 45 days.
SEBI had conducted an investigation pertaining to issues relating to insider trading in the scrip of Satyam in 2008-09.
It had said that the company's announcement on December 16, 2008 to acquire Maytas Infra Ltd and Maytas Properties Ltd, and the subsequent withdrawal of the proposal a day later, besides the confessions made by the Satyam Chairman, Mr Ramalinga Raju, in January 2009, were price sensitive information.
The regulator said it was observed that certain employees and clients had sold Satyam shares between November 25, 2008 and December 16, 2008 till before the announcement. The investigation had revealed that Mr Jayaraman had allegedly violated the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct for Prevention of Insider Trading for Listed Companies during the investigation period by not closing the trading window when there was unpublished price sensitive information about the acquisition of MIL and MPL by SCSL.