Sebi bans fugitive bizman Vijay Mallya from securities market for 3 years

Sebi on Friday barred fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya from the securities markets and restrained him from associating with any listed firm for three years in the matter of routing of funds to the Indian securities market using overseas bank accounts with UBS AGThe Indian government has been attempting to extradite Mallya from the United Kingdom to face fraud charges related to his nowdefunct company Kingfisher Airlines Mallya has been living in the United Kingdom since March 2016An investigation conducted by Sebi covering January 2006 to March 2008 found that Mallya used Matterhorn Ventures a Foreign Institutional Investor FII to secretly trade shares of his group companies Herbertsons Ltd and United Spirits Ltd USL by routing funds through various overseas accountsFormer liquor barron routed money through various accounts with UBS AG to the Indian securities market using Matterhorn Ventures He used different overseas entities to hide his true identity the probe foundMatterhorn Ventures was wrongly listed as a nonpromoter public shareholder in Herbertsons even though its 998 per cent shareholding belonged to the promoter category the order notedIn her 37page order Sebi Chief General Manager Anitha Anoop said the noticee Mallya in the instant case has devised a scheme to indirectly trade in the shares of his own group companies through layered transactionsfund flow using his overseas related companies through FII route in order to keep his identity masked and trade in the Indian securities market in defiance of the regulatory normsSuch acts of Mallya are not only fraudulent and deceptive but are a threat to the integrity of the securities market Anoop addedThe noticee indeed had misrepresented the truth and concealed a material fact known to him that the shareholding shown in the name of Matterhorn actually belonged to the promoter category as the same was totally funded by the noticee thereby violating the provisions of the PFUTP Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices Regulations the regulator notedConsequently Sebi has barred Mallya from accessing the securities market and further prohibited from buying selling or otherwise dealing in securities directly or indirectly or being associated with the securities market in any manner for a period of three yearsAlso he has been restrained from associating himself with any listed company or proposed to be listed company in any capacity directly or indirectly for a period of three yearsThe order came after the Securities and Exchange Board of India Sebi investigated Mallya who was the Chairman of the UB Group and controlling shareholder of USL based on a tip from the Financial Conduct Authority FCAEarlier in June 2018 Sebi banned Mallya from the securities market for three yearsfrom June 1 2018 to May 31 2021 due to manipulative activities including fund diversion and improper transactions in USL shares Also it barred him from holding a director or key managerial position in any listed company for five yearsFurther Mallyas appeal against this order was dismissedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever