ADAG identifies rogue brokers, seeks Sebi action

The Anil Ambani group today said it has identified the stockbrokers behind the spread of malicious rumours and "baseless sensational charges" against it and sought immediate action by Sebi against the perpetrators.

The group said these brokers were sending out mass emails and SMSes and were also making large-scale voice calls with baseless and sensational charges against its firms.

Stocks of various companies belonging to the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group have fallen sharply in the past few weeks and the group has blamed corporate rivals, a cartel of stock market manipulators and 'rumour mongering' for this heavy sell-off.

While the group has already sought an investigation by Sebi, the stock exchanges and investigation agencies into the matter, it said in a fresh statement today that it has "identified stockbrokers sending mass e-mails/SMS/voice calls with baseless sensational charges against ADA Group."

While the group did not name the brokers in its statement, the names and other details about their suspicious activities have been submitted to Sebi.

"These brokers (are) guilty of blatant violation of Sebi (FUTP) Regulations," the group said. These regulations relate to Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices (FUTP) relating to the securities market.

The group said that it was "bringing matter to immediate attention of Sebi/cyber crime/police for seizure of electronic and dealing room records."

It also sought a "full-fledged Sebi investigation and punitive interim orders against guilty brokers".

Stocks of ADA group firms plummeted further today after regaining some of the ground lost over the past few weeks yesterday.

The group's telecom arm, RCOM, was trading over 4.5% down, while Reliance Power was down over 3.4%. In addition, Reliance Infra, Reliance Broadcast, Reliance Capital and Reliance Media Works were also down over 2% each.

Hit hard by the steep decline in its group stocks, the group had yesterday blamed 'corporate rivals' and a cartel of market manipulators for causing panic among investors.

Seeking to assuage the concerns of its over 11 million investors, the group also said it was a victim of an illegal bear cartel that destroyed over Rs 3,00,000 crore in market value for the infrastructure sector in the past few weeks.

The comments came a day after the group stocks fell by up to 19%, causing a market value loss of over Rs 11,000 crore in a single day on February 9.

The group stocks bounced back yesterday, but could only regain a small part of the value lost over the past few weeks.