The trouble for detained businessman Raj Kundra and his wife Shilpa Shetty does not seem to come to an end as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) imposed a penalty of Rs 3 lakh on the couple.
SEBI has alleged that Bollywood couple and their company Viaan Industries have violated insider trading rules. They have been fined for a three-year delay in the disclosure of an allotment of preferential shares.
Notably, in 2015 Kundra’s company had made a preferential allotment of 500,000 equity shares. Of this 128,800 equity shares each were allotted to Kundra and Shilpa Shetty.
As per the norm of SEBI’s Prohibition of Insider Trading Rules, 2015, the promoters (Raj Kundra and his wife) had to reveal this transaction to the company within two days if it exceeded the value of Rs 10 lakh. However, the company in turn has to relay this disclosure to the stock exchanges within two trading days.
In the case pertaining to Kundra and Shetty and their company
Viaan Industries, the said value of their transaction was Rs 2.57 crore each
and the disclosures were made in 2019, with a three years delay from the actual
date.
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The SEBI slapped the notice to the couple and imposed a fine of Rs 3 lakh. In a reply to the notice, Shetty acknowledged that it was a mistake and it was not done with malafide intent.
However, the SEBI adjudicating officer Suresh B Menon refused this explanation and imposed a fine, in an order on Wednesday.
It is to be reiterated here, Raj Kundra was arrested by Mumbai Police Crime Branch on July 19 in connection to the case of creating and publishing pornographic content on apps. The businessman to be in the police custody till August 10 as his bail petition was turned down by the Bombay High Court earlier today.