Ketan Parekh: I Am A Victim Of Circumstances

Bull operator Ketan Parekh has said he was a victim of circumstances and had no intention of manipulating the stock markets.

Deposing before the Joint Parliamentary Committee inquiring into the stock scam today, Parekh said he had not indulged in circular trading and vehemently denied the Sebi allegations against him. The chairman of the committee SPM Tripathi said today's deposition by Parekh was unfinished and said he would be called again.

The committee quizzed him on the extent of influence the leading stock broker had exercised on the market to which Parekh apparently had "no clear answers". The JPC also was not satisfied by his assertion that the bourses had moved up in line with the world trends.

Explaining his role in the scam Parekh said: "I got into a vicious cycle of payment problem" for which he partly blamed the loan of Rs 3191 crore that he had given to some brokers in Calcutta Stock Exchange when they in turn had run into a payment crisis.

He also said that this was the reason why he could not repay Madhavpura Mercantile Cooperative Bank within the stipulated time. According to Tripathi , Parekh also contended that his repeated buy and sell transactions in the bourses were meant only "to develop liquidity". He said the K-10 man also submitted a written statement to the committee in response to the questions that had been sent to him earlier.