Sebi bars Kassa Finvest for misutilisation of investor funds

Following a large number of investor complaints for non-receipt of funds and securities worth over Rs 38 crore, Sebi has barred a broker Kassa Finvest and its top executives from capital markets, while asking them to provide details of their assets and funds.
Sebi has also asked the general public to report any violation by Kassa, which has been found to have diverted investors' money for funding its other business ventures.
"Kassa Finvest Private Limited had prima facie raised funds by way of illegally selling the securities of its clients/investors and provided assured returns to its clients," Sebi said today.

In its order, Sebi said that Kassa and its directors -- Ashok Kumar, Umashankar Sharan Shrivastav -- and promoter Anjana Kumar, have been barred from securities market.
Besides, regulator has asked them to "cease and desist from undertaking any activity in the securities market, directly or indirectly".
"The public at large is informed that in case they come across any information regarding the violation of any of the above directions...The same may be reported to Sebi in the interest of investors and securities market," the market regulator said.

As per information submitted by NSE with Sebi, there were 195 pending investor complaints having a claim value of about Rs 38.13 crore against the broker, as on March 11, 2015.

The Sebi ruling comes amid a recent warning by NSE to its members against any non-adherence to norms about timely settlement of funds and securities in the investor accounts, after its inspections and internal audits found some of them were not "diligently adhering" to such guidelines.
Finding that Kassa had misused the investor money, Sebi said that "this is a case where effective and expeditious action is required to be taken not only to prevent any further harm to investors but also to send a stern message to prevent any person from indulging in acts as observed in this case".

In its order, Sebi has asked Kassa, its director and promoter to provide a full inventory of all their assets including investments and bank details. They also cannot dispose off assets without the prior permission of Sebi.
Earlier, NSE, which had received large number of complaints against Kassa, had initiated an inspection.
However, Kassa had failed to cooperate in the inspection despite several opportunities granted to them and accordingly the inspection could not be conducted.
The trading terminals of Kassa had been disabled in the capital market segment of NSE since November 19, 2014 due to shortfall in the minimum deposit requirement in the segment.

Further, as an interim measure, NSE also disabled Kassa in Futures & Options segment and currency derivative segment with effect from December 1, 2014.