Mumbai Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has imposed a fine of Rs 26 crore on Reliance Big Entertainment for not paying the penalty imposed by the capital market regulator. Earlier, the company had not paid the fine in a case related to illegal diversion of funds. SEBI had issued a demand notice to Reliance Big Entertainment for not paying the penalty of Rs 25 crore imposed by the regulator in August this year. SEBI has directed the entity to pay Rs 26 crore including interest and recovery cost within 15 days. If Reliance Big Entertainment fails to pay within the stipulated time frame, the regulator may seize its assets including bank accounts.
In August this year, the market regulator banned industrialist Anil Ambani and 24 other entities for five years for fund diversion from Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL). Sebi also imposed a fine of Rs 25 crore on Ambani and barred him from holding any position in the securities market for the same period, including the roles of director or key managerial personnel in listed companies. In a 222-page order, Sebi said Anil Ambani, with the help of key managerial personnel of RHFL, hatched a fraudulent scheme to siphon off funds from RHFL which he misappropriated as loans to entities linked to him.
The board of directors of RHFL issued strict directions to prevent such lending practices and regularly reviewed corporate loans, but the company’s management ignored these orders. This reflects a significant failure of governance driven by certain key managerial personnel under the influence of Anil Ambani,” it said. The other 24 entities that have been banned include former RHFL key executives Amit Bapna, Ravindra Sudhalkar and Pinkesh R. Shah. The regulator imposed a fine of Rs 27 crore on Bapna, Rs 26 crore on Sudhalkar and Rs 21 crore on Shah.
The remaining entities – Reliance Unicorn Enterprises, Reliance ExchangeNext Ltd, Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd, Reliance Cleangen Ltd, Reliance Business Broadcast News Holdings Ltd and Reliance Big Entertainment Pvt Ltd – were fined Rs 25 crore each.
