SEBI bans Anil Ambani, 24 other entities from securities market for five years
The Hindu
SEBI bars Anil Ambani and others for fund diversion
Market regulator SEBI has barred industrialist Anil Ambani, 24 other entities, including former key officials of Reliance Home Finance from the securities market for five years for diversion of funds from the company.
SEBI has imposed a penalty of ₹25 crore on Ambani and restrained him from being associated with the securities market including as a director or Key Managerial Personnel (KMP) in any listed company, or any intermediary registered with the market regulator, for a period of five years.
Also, the regulator barred Reliance Home Finance from the securities market for six months and slapped a fine of ₹6 lakh on it.
In its 222-page final order, SEBI found that Anil Ambani, with the help of RHFL's key managerial personnel, had orchestrated a fraudulent scheme to siphon-off funds from RHFL by disguising them as loans to entities linked to him.
Although the Board of Directors of RHFL had issued strong directives to stop such lending practices and reviewed corporate loans regularly, the company's management ignored these orders.
This suggests a significant failure of governance, driven by certain key managerial personnel under the influence of Anil Ambani.
Given these circumstances, the company RHFL itself should not be held equally responsible as the individuals involved in the fraud.