Sanjay Chamria, a former official of Poonawalla Fincorp Ltd, has settled with markets regulator Sebi a case pertaining to alleged manipulative trade practice after paying Rs 42.2 lakh towards settlement charge.
Chamria, who was the executive vice chairman of Poonawalla Fincorp Ltd (PFL), proposed to settle the pending proceedings, "without admitting or denying the findings" through a settlement order.
"I hereby order that the instant adjudication proceedings initiated against the applicant (Chamria) vide SCN (Show Cause Notice) dated June 13, 2022 are disposed of," Sebi Adjudicating Officer Vijayant Kumar Verma said in an order passed on Monday.
Chamria owned 1.39 per cent stake in PFL as of quarter ended December 2022, latest shareholding data with the BSE showed.
PFL, earlier known as Magma Fincorp, was founded by the Chamria family and in February 2021, Poonawalla family acquired majority stake in Magma Fincorp.
In its show cause notice, Sebi alleged that Chamria provided incomplete or misleading information to NSE, which in turn was relied upon by the regulator while passing the interim order in September 2021 and therefore indulged in a manipulative, fraudulent and an unfair trade practice in securities markets. This was in violation of provisions of the PFUTP (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices) Regulation.
The regulator carried out a detailed investigation to ascertain whether there was any violation of insider trading rules by certain entities during the period from January 2021 to February 2021 in the scrip of PFL.
It was observed that PFL had provided incomplete information to Sebi, which was relied upon by the regulator for framing charges against eight entities in the interim order passed in September 2021. Thereafter, Sebi passed a confirmatory order in March 2022.
It was observed that the names of two persons -- Saumil Shah and Abhijit Pawar -- had not been provided in the list of persons who were involved in the discussions, leading up to the announcement on February 10, 2021.
Sebi noted that the information submitted by PFL on April 6, 2021 which was prepared on the basis of inputs received from Sanjay Chamria was crucial in carrying out the preliminary examination, and arriving at the prima facie findings in the interim order.
The omission of the two names by the applicant allegedly impeded the process of 'preliminary investigation', and consequently, adversely affected quasi-judicial proceedings there, it added.
