SEBI imposes fine on Mukesh Ambani, RIL for ‘manipulative trading’

Mumbai, Jan 2 : The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has imposed a penalty of Rs 25 crore and Rs 15 crore respectively on Reliance Industries (RIL) and its Chairman Mukesh Ambani for manipulative trading.
The SEBI order observed that RIL had entered into a well-planned operation with its agents to corner the open interest in the RPL (Reliance Petroleum) futures and to earn undue profits from the sale of RPL shares in both cash and futures segments and to dump large number of RPL shares in the cash segment during the last ten minutes of trading on the settlement day resulting in a fall in the settlement price. The case pertains to 2007.
It also observed that Mukesh Ambani being the Chairman & Managing Director of RIL, was responsible for its day-to-day affairs and thereby, liable for the “manipulative trading” done by RIL.
The order noted that Navi Mumbai SEZ Pvt Ltd and Mumbai SEZ Ltd have allegedly aided and abetted RIL by providing funds to one of the agents appointed by RIL, who in turn provided funds to other 11 agents for making the margin payments for the short positions in RPL November Futures.
The capital market regulator imposed penalties of Rs 20 crore and Rs 10 crore on Navi Mumbai SEZ and Mumbai SEZ respectively.
As per SEBI, it was observed that a resolution was passed by the Board of Directors of on March 29, 2007 which approved the operating plan for the year 2007-08 and resource requirements of the next two years — around Rs. 87,000 crore. Thereafter, RIL decided to sell approximately 5 per cnet of its shareholding in RPL (up to 22.5 crore RPL shares) in November 2007.