Sebi imposes Rs 7.5 lakh fine on Aftek, its 4 officials

Markets Regulator Sebi has imposed a total penalty of Rs 7.5 lakh on Aftek Ltd and its four officials for failing to make necessary disclosure of price sensitive information to the stock exchanges.
The officials are chairman and managing director Ranjit Dhuru, executive directors Nitin Shukla and Mukul Dalal and compliance officer C G Deshmukh.
Based on a Sebi probe, it was alleged that the entities had failed to make required disclosure to the bourses regarding the default in redemption of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) on slated and revised maturity dates, which was price sensitive information.
According to the Sebi order dated October 27, the slated maturity date was June 25, 2010 and the revised maturity date was December 21, 2012.

"It is an admitted fact that there was failure on part of the noticees (firm and officials) in making disclosure to stock exchanges about default in redemption of FCCBs on maturity and revised maturity dates," Sebi said.
The regulator also noted that as per the admission of Aftek Ltd, the disclosure has been belatedly made to the stock exchanges on August 8, 2017, after delay of more than four and six years from the dates of default.

With regard to the compliance officer, Sebi said that he has failed to the extent to oversee and co-ordinate to ensure that Aftek Ltd complies with the requirement of making corporate announcement or disclosure of price sensitive information to the stock exchanges.

According to the order, by failing to make necessary corporate announcement of price sensitive information to stock exchanges, the entities have violated Code of Corporate Disclosure Practices of PIT (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations and listing agreement.
For the violations, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has levied a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh each on the firm and its four officials.
In a separate order, the regulator has imposed a penalty of Rs 3 lakh on one Parind S Parekh for violating disclosure norms with regard to his acquisition and sale of shares of Nivyah Infrastructure & Telecom Services Ltd.

In another order, Sebi also levied a fine of Rs 2 lakh on Satyalaxmi Vinimay Pvt Ltd for disclosure lapses following acquisition of shares of Svaraj Trading & Agencies Ltd.