Sebi bans Swabhumi Real Estate India from securities market

Sebi has barred Swabhumi Real Estate India Ltd (SREIL) from the securities market for at least four years and directed it to refund money collected illegally from the public.
SREIL had issued and allotted redeemable preference shares (RPS) to at least 141 investors during the financial year 200809 and raised at least an amount of Rs 12.92 lakh, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) noted in the order dated October 5.
Since the shares were issued to more than 50 people, the offer of RPS qualified to be a public issue and required compulsory listing of the securities on a recognised stock exchange. However, SREIL did not comply with the provision.

Among other requirements, the firm was to register a prospectus with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) under the Companies Act, which it failed to do.
Also, the firm has been restrained from the securities market till the expiry of four years from the date of completion of refunds along with interest to investors.
The regulator said that the present directors -- Ramesh Subudhi, Aloke Kumar Bhattacharjee and Asit Ghosh -- are not liable for refund of money as they were not directors during the relevant time of fund mobilisation.

However, according to Sebi, they were responsible for all the acts of the company during the period of their directorship and were obligated to ensure refund of the money collected by the firm to the investors.

In view of the failure to discharge the liability of ensuring refund, the present directors are liable to be debarred for an appropriate period of time, Sebi said.
Accordingly, the regulator has banned the firm's present directors from the capital market for four years. Besides, they have been restrained from associating themselves with any listed public company and any public company which intends to raise money from the public, for equal number of years.
Earlier, through an interim order in 2015, Sebi barred the firm and Subudhi, Bhattacharjee and Ghosh from the capital market "till further directions".