Sebi bans Greenbang Agro, directors from securities market for 4 years

Sebi has banned Greenbang Agro and its 10 current and former directors from the securities market for at least four years and directed them to refund the money the company had collected illegally from the investors.

According to a Sebi order dated June 15, Greenbang Agro had allotted secured redeemable non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to at least 210 investors during the financial years 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 and mobilised nearly Rs 37 lakh.

Since the securities were issued to more than 49 people, the offer of NCDs qualified to be a public issue and required their compulsory listing on a recognised stock exchange. However, Greenbang Agro did not comply with the provision.

The firm and its directors have to "jointly and severally" refund the money to the holders of NCDs, with an annual interest of 15 per cent, within a period of 90 days from the date of the order.

Till the refund is made, the firm and the directors have been restrained from the capital market. Following the completion of refund, they would be banned from the markets for a period of four years and prohibited from buying, selling or otherwise dealing in securities.

The directors of the firm, including the current and former ones, are Paritosh Panda, Dhiman Roy, Nitish Barman, Baidyanath Mandal, Subhra Jyoti Sardar, Satyanendra Nath Mondal, Sreemon Ghosh, Taslim Arif Khan, Nilima Ponda and Lipika Bhaduri.

Rural Economic Welfare Trust, represented by Durga Ghosh and Ramendra Nath Mistry, had acted as debenture trustee for the offer and issue of NCDs by Greenbang Agro, without having registration from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

For violating the Sebi (Debenture Trustees) Regulations, the regulator has also banned Ghosh and Mistry from the securities market for a period of one year.