7 former Saradha Realty execs also liable to pay fine: Sebi

Sebi has penalised seven former officials of Saradha Realty in the illicit money pooling case in addition to three individuals and the company that have to pay a total fine of Rs 1 crore.
The penalty has been slapped on the 11 entities for running collective investment activities without the approval of the markets regulator.
In October 2016, Sebi had directed Saradha Realty, its managing director Sudipta Sen as well as two other officials Hemanta Pradhan and Monoj Kumar Nagel to pay a total fine of Rs 2 crore under two different sections.
The penalties were for illegal money pooling activities and for failure to wind up such schemes as asked by Sebi way back in April 2013.

As the company failed to wind up the schemes within the stipulated time, Sebi initiated prosecution and adjudication proceedings against company and 10 individuals, including Sen, Pradhan and Nagel.
The seven others are: Subhojit Sen, Debika Dasgupta, Mitali Banerjee, Poulami Mukherjee, Debjani Mukherjee, Gobinda Prasad Giri and Arvind Kumar Mishra.

In the latest ruling, Sebi Whole Time Member S Raman said these individuals are liable to pay fine as they were part of the company when the unauthorised money pooling activities were carried out.
"The liability on the part of the noticees (seven former officials) cannot vanish merely by the fact that they resigned from the company at a subsequent point in time," Raman said in the order dated January 11.

He further said that finding of the adjudicating officer to the extent of not holding the past officials liable under Section 15D (a) is "erroneous and not in the interests of investors and securities market".
Section 15D(a) of the Sebi Act pertains to running collective investment scheme without obtaining registration.
According to the latest order, the seven officials were part of Saradha Realty during the period when the company mobilised funds from the public and continued with the unauthorised CIS (Collective Investment Scheme) activities without obtaining registration from Sebi.
The penalty of Rs 1 crore has to be paid jointly within 45 days of receiving the order, Sebi said.