Sebi bans Suraksha Family, Riju Cement and 6 others from mkt

Sebi has barred two firms -- Suraksha Family Services and Riju Cement -- and their six present directors from securities market for at least four years for illegally raising money from public.
The regulator also directed both the firms and their directors to refund the money collected from the investors without complying with public issue norms with an annual interest of 15 per cent.
Suraksha Family Services (SFSL) had raised Rs 82.30 lakh through issuance of redeemable preference shares (RPS) to 1,804 investors during 2007-08 and 2008-09, while Riju Cement (RCL) had garnered at least Rs 39.15 lakh by allotting non- convertible debentures (NCDs) to around 539 investors during 2009-10 and 2010-11, Sebi noted in two separate orders dated November 7.

Since the shares were issued to more than 50 people by each firm, the offer of RPS and NCDs qualified to be a public issue and required compulsory listing of the securities on a recognised stock exchange. However, SFSL and RCL did not comply with the provision.
Among other requirements, the companies were to register a prospectus with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) under the Companies Act, which they failed to do.
The present directors of SFSL against whom the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has passed the directions are Indranil Das, Arunabha Mukhopadhyay and Subrata Das, while those of RCL are Kanika Maiti, Anukul Maiti and Swapan Roy.

The companies and the directors have also been banned from the capital market till completion of four years from the date of complete refunds made to the investors concerned, according to the orders.

Besides, the directors have also been restrained from associating themselves with any listed public company till the expiry of four years from the date of completion of refunds.
The regulator has also barred Ranjit Daspattanayak, another present director of SFSL, from the securities market for a period of four years after noting that he was obligated to ensure refund of the money collected from the investors.
"Ranjit Daspattanayak is not liable for refund of money jointly and severally with SFSL and other directors as he was not a director during the relevant time of fund mobilisation," Sebi said.

Noting that Daspattanayak was also "responsible for all the deeds/acts of the company during the period of his directorship and was obligated to ensure refund of the money collected by the company to the investors", the regulator said in view of the failure to discharge the liability of ensuring refund, he is liable to be debarred for an appropriate period of time.