SC to decide on SAT's issue with Sebi

The matter is likely to come up for hearing next week.     

The regulator said that there were no explicit or implicit provisions authorising the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) to impose costs on it.     

Sebi has challenged SAT order that set aside the impugned Sebi order imposing a penalty of Rs 1 crore on international investment banker Goldman Sachs for failing to submit the information about issuance of offshore derivatives instruments (ODIs) to an overseas corporate body (OCB) in a prescribed format and with the requisite declarations.     

According to Sebi, the penalty of Rs 1 crore imposed on Goldman Sachs Investment (Mauritius) Ltd, a sub-account registered with Sebi, was in keeping with the circular that made mandatory bi-weekly disclosure of FIIs' overseas direct investment so that they did not enter into the off-shore derivatives with NRIs and OCBs.     

The market regulator alleged that Goldman Sachs International, an affiliate of Goldman Sachs Investment (Mauritius), issued offshore derivatives instruments (ODIs), or a participatory note (PN,) to an OCB known as Magnus Capital Corporation in December 2003.     

Sebi had imposed the fine on Goldman Sachs through an order passed in September 2006, for not furnishing an undertaking that they had not dealt in ODIs with OCBs.     

The failure on the part of FIIs to report about issuance of PNs should be viewed seriously and invite stringent punitive measures, it had said.