DLF gets interim reprieve from Sebi's Rs 26 cr penalty order

Slapped with a Rs 26 crore fine by Sebi, realty giant DLF today said the markets regulator will not enforce payment of the penalty till the pendency of the company's appeal against the order.
DLF filed an appeal before the Securities Appellate Tribunal on April 8 against the capital market watchdog's order, wherein the company was asked to pay a penalty of Rs 26 crore for indulging in "fraudulent and unfair trade practices".
The appeal came up for hearing today before the Tribunal, along with appeals filed by DLF's top executives including Chairman K P Singh. In addition to Rs 26 crore penalty on DLF, Sebi in its order dated February 26 had also ordered payment of a similar amount by seven persons -- Singh, his son and Vice Chairman Rajiv Singh, daughter Pia Singh, T C Goyal, Ramesh Sanka, G S Talwar and Kameshwar Swarup.

Giving an update about today's hearing, DLF said that "SAT passed an order taking on record Sebi's undertaking that Sebi will not take any action to enforce the payment of penalty amount against the company during the pendency of the appeal and has posted the appeal on July 9, 2015 for hearing."
In the biggest-ever penalty in a single case, Sebi had imposed penalties on DLF, its top executives, their family members and various other related entities for entering into "sham transactions".
Along with penalties totalling Rs 34 slapped on 33 related entities, the fines total to Rs 86 crore in this case, which relates to disclosure requirements at the time of DLF's IPO more than seven years ago.

The realty major had earlier said that it did not violate any laws.

In the same case, Sebi in October last year barred DLF and its six top executives, including Singh and his two children, from markets for three years for suppressing key information at the time of its IPO in 2007, including about certain "sham transactions" involving an associate firm, Sudipti Estates.
Last month, the SAT had passed a 'majority order' quashing the three-year market ban imposed on the realty giant by regulator Sebi, even as the Presiding Officer dissented.
Sebi's orders imposing similar ban on DLF's six top officials, including Chairman KP Singh and his children Rajiv Singh and Pia Singh, were also set aside by the same majority order, passed by two members of the SAT.

DLF, the country's largest real estate developer with a land bank of about 300 million sq ft, has also faced regulatory problems with fair trade watchdog CCI, against whose order the company has gone to the Supreme Court.