Sebi penalises Swastika Investmart for misutilising clients' securities and funds

The order came after Sebi conducted a probe into the trading in the scrip of MKEL to ascertain whether there were any disclosure violations regarding change in promoters shareholding pattern by certain entities for the period October 2012 to June 2015.

Sebi on Tuesday slapped a fine of Rs 15 lakh on Swastika Investmart Ltd for misutilisation of clients' securities and funds. The order came after the Sebi conducted an inspection of Swastika Investmart Ltd (SIL) for a period from April 2020 to June 2021. Based on the findings of the examination, the regulator initiated adjudication proceedings against Swastika for the alleged violations of Securities contracts (regulations) act (SCRA) and other market norms. In its order, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) found that Swastika had misutilised the funds of its credit balance clients for the purpose of settlement/ margin obligations of debit balance clients. The amount of mis-utilisation of credit balance client funds ranged between Rs 6.44 lakh to Rs 1.38 crore. In a separate order, the regulator imposed a fine of Rs 15 lakh on 15 entities for flouting the regulatory norms in the matter of Matra Kaushal Enterprise Ltd (MKEL). The entities are the promoters of MKEL. The order came after Sebi conducted a probe into the trading in the scrip of MKEL to ascertain whether there were any disclosure violations regarding change in promoters' shareholding pattern by certain entities for the period October 2012 to June 2015. In another order, Sebi imposed a fine of Rs 11 lakh on two entities for failing to comply with the summons issued by the markets watchdog pertaining to violation of rules in the matter of Greencrest Financial Services Ltd (GFSL).