SEBI indicts 23 PSE brokers

Broker Mangal Jain’s licence has been cancelled. His licence has been cancelled not because he is more guilty of illegal transactions than the others, but because he has been absconding and not responding to Sebi’s summons, said LK Singhvi, Sebi executive director in charge of investigations.

The registration of Pratik Investments and Janhavi Securities has been suspended for a period of one year. These were the main culprits in the illegal badla transactions, said Singhvi. Bindi Patni, Elite Securities, RBM Investments, Mayfair Investment & Consultancy Services, Rajesh Parikh, Clever Investment & Securities, ST Shah, Rachna Consultants, Kunal Securities, Prabodh Arthwardhini, Paresh Mehta, Vardi Rathod, Jitendra Wagh and Rajesh Kasat have their registrations suspended for three months.

The five brokers who have been issued warnings are Rajendra Daga, Mayur Investments, Bhojwani Securities, JP Surana and Devi Investments. The illegal activity of these entities was not found to be too much.

According to a Sebi release, these brokers had been found indulging in unauthorised carry forward transactions during the period October 1995 to January 1996. This came to light in the course of enquiries about the index fall during this period. Subsequently, an enquiry officer was appointed and showcause notices were issued.

After considering their reply and the submissions made during the personal hearings, Sebi has found the brokers guilty of violating the Sebi Act, 1992 and the Sebi (Stock Brokers and sub-brokers) Regulations, 1992. The suspension orders will come into effect from September 1, 1997.

Meanwhile the hearings of brokers found to have conducted illegal transactions on the Calcutta and some other exchanges is still on.

The PSE has a total membership of 185 brokers of who 115 are active, of who 70 were found to have been engaged in questionable transactions in the two settlements. Of these 70, however, 24 were already in the SEBI net, leaving 54 who were then issued show cause notices by the Disciplinary Committee of the PSE in October- November 1996 to explain their roles in the transactions.

Fresh FII stake in Infosys banned

MUMBAI, Aug 13: The RBI has banned further purchases in Infosys and Carrier Aircon by FIIs, NRIs and OCBs. In a release issued on Wednesday, the apex bank said that both the companies have reached their respective foreign investment ceilings as prescribed under the portfolio investment scheme. A limit of 30 per cent in the case of Infosys and 24 per cent in the case of Carrier Aircon has been reached in both the companies.The RBI had banned fresh purchases of shares of Mastek Ltd by FIIs as they had already hit the 30 per cent ceiling.