Sebi penalises 19 persons for fraudulent trading in Global Infratech stock

Capital markets regulator Sebi has imposed a penalty of Rs 95 lakh on 19 individuals for indulging in manipulative trading in the shares of Global Infratech and Finance Limited.

They have been directed to pay the penalty within 45 days, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in its order on Friday.

The regulator conducted an investigation in the scrip of Global Infratech and Finance Ltd (GIFL) for the period December 2017 to February 2018 to ascertain any violations of PFUTP (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices) norms.

In its probe, Sebi found that 19 persons have followed a uniform strategy of executing 3,266 trades in a substantial quantity of shares, constituting 12.86 per cent of total market volume in a synchronised manner through a large number of trades ranging from 87 to 458 trades on each day for 39 days.

"Such a repeated and uniform strategy of synchronised trades involving substantial quantity of shares was followed by noticees in order to create a misleading appearance of trading, without any change of beneficial ownership, and thus was a fraudulent activity resorted to by noticees in order to mislead investors," Sebi said.

The synchronised trades, which were executed in order to mislead investors and created a misleading appearance of trading in the scrip of GIFL amounted to fraudulent activity in terms of PFUTP rules, it added.

Accordingly, the regulator has levied a fine of Rs 5 lakh each on 19 individuals, including Harishkumar Kantilal Patel, Vishalkumar Krishnakant Borisha, Pardhi Dhirubhai Khanabhai, Bhavin Natwarlal Panchal, Ankit Jagdishbhai Pithava, Ketan Pravinbhai Panchal, Praveen Kumar and Rameshchandra Chhitubhai Patel.