Sebi slaps Rs 25 lakh fine on 2 individuals for non-compliance with directives

Markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday imposed a total penalty of Rs 25 lakh on two individuals for not complying with its directives to disgorge the unlawful gains made by them.

The individuals are Mansoor Rafiq Khanda and Firoz Rafiq Khanda (noticees).

The individuals were engaged in providing investment advisory services to investors upon the receipt of requisite fees without obtaining registration from Sebi, according to a Sebi order.

In May 2016, the regulator had directed them to impound a sum of over Rs 5 crore as ill-gotten gains made by them jointly and severally.

Thereafter, in June 2018, the market regulator passed an order against the individuals directing them to disgorge the unlawful gains made by them along with interest as determined by the regulator in the impounding order dated May 12, 2016.

Further, the noticees had filed an appeal before the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT), which was dismissed in January 2020.

However, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) noted that the individuals have not paid the disgorgement amount even after almost 11 months have passed subsequent to the order of the SAT in January 2020.

The regulator also noted that the noticees have completely disregarded the directions of Sebi to disgorge the ill-gotten gains made from their activities as unregistered investment advisers.

This shows unwillingness on the part of the noticees to comply with the directions of Sebi and such defaults seriously compromise the regulatory framework, the order said.

For not complying with its directives, the regulator has penalised them.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)