RIL insider trading case order on Monday: SAT

Sebi has been investigating charges of insider trading against RIL in a matter dating back to 2007

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on Thursday said it would deliver its order on an insider trading case involving Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Monday.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has been probing charges of insider trading against RIL in a matter dating back to 2007. Allegedly, the company took positions in Reliance Petroleum on the back of price-sensitive information about its merger with RIL, making profits by trading on information not available to the public.

Sebi began investigating the matter in 2008, issuing a show-cause notice to RIL in 2010. RIL tried to resolve the matter through consent, which allows companies to deal with allegations of wrongdoing by paying a settlement charge, without admitting or denying guilt. In the case of RIL, Sebi turned down the consent application.

Subsequently, there were amendments in the consent mechanism; offences such as insider-trading cannot generally be dealt with through this route. RIL moved SAT against this, saying it hadn’t received a number of documents related to the case. On December 20, 2013, its appeal pertaining to the documents was disposed of, with Sebi saying it had already provided the documents.

Earlier, Sebi had penalised RIL for insider-trading in a separate case involving a subsidiary, Reliance Petroinvestments. It was found the subsidiary had taken positions in Indian Petrochemicals, ahead of its merger with RIL; information on this wasn’t available in the public domain at that time.

On Thursday, the RIL stock fell 3.7 per cent on BSE, compared with a 3.88 per cent fall in the exchange’s oil & gas index.

Judgement Day

SAT heard appeal in RIL insider trading case on Thursday

RIL allegedly traded in Reliance Petroleum using insider information

Sebi began investigations in 2008

It sent a showcause notice in 2010

RIL attempted to settle the matter through the consent route

Sebi turned down the application

Subsequently, consent norms were revised

RIL moved SAT against these Sebi decisions

Order will now be pronounced on June 30