Sebi bans Anil Ambani, 24 other entities from securities mkt for 5-yrs
New Delhi (PTI): Markets 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 Rs 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 5 years.
Also, the regulator barred Reliance Home Finance from the securities market for six months and slapped a fine of Rs 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.
Further, the remaining entities have played the role of being either recipients of illegally obtained loans or conduits to enable illegal diversion of monies from RHFL, the regulator noted.
Sebi said its findings have established the "existence of a fraudulent scheme, orchestrated by Noticee No. 2 (Anil Ambani) and administered by the KMPs of RHFL, to siphon off funds from the public listed company (RHFL) by structuring them as 'loans' to credit unworthy conduit borrowers, and in turn, to onward borrowers, all of whom have been found to be 'promoter linked entities' i.e. entities associated/ linked with Noticee 2 (Anil Ambani)".
Ambani used his position as 'chairperson of the ADA group' and his significant indirect shareholding in the holding company of RHFL to orchestrate the fraud.
Sebi, in its order on Thursday, noted the cavalier approach of the company's management and promoter in approving loans worth hundreds of crores to companies that had little to no assets, cash flow, net worth, or revenue.
This suggests a sinister objective behind the 'loans'. The situation becomes even more suspicious when considering that many of these borrowers were closely linked to the promoters of RHFL.
Eventually, most of these borrowers failed to repay their loans, causing RHFL to default on its own debt obligations. This led to the company's resolution under the RBI Framework, leaving its public shareholders in a difficult position.
For example, in March 2018, RHFL's share price was around Rs 59.60. By March 2020, as the extent of the fraud became clear and the company was drained of its resources, the share price had plummeted to just Rs 0.75.
Even now, over 9 lakh shareholders remain invested in RHFL, facing significant losses.
The 24 restrained entities include former key officials of Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL) -- Amit Bapna, Ravindra Sudhalkar and Pinkesh R Shah -- and Sebi has imposed fine on them for their role in the case.
Also, the regulator levied a fine of Rs 25 crore on Ambani, Rs 27 crore on Bapna, Rs 26 crore on Sudhalkar and Rs 21 crore on Shah.
Additionally, the remaining entities including Reliance Unicorn Enterprises, Reliance Exchange next Lt, Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd, Reliance Cleangen Ltd, Reliance Business Broadcast News Holdings Ltd and Reliance Big Entertainment Private Ltd have been imposed a penalty of Rs 25 crore each.
These fines have been levied on them for either receiving the illegally obtained loans or acted as intermediaries to facilitate the illegal diversion of funds from RHFL.
In February 2022, markets watchdog Sebi had passed an interim order and restrained Reliance Home Finance Ltd, industrialist Anil Ambani and three other individuals (Amit Bapna, Ravindra Sudhakar and Pinkesh R Shah) from the securities market till further orders for allegedly siphoning off funds from the company.
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'Traitor' jibe: HC issues notice to police, Sena MLA on Kamra's plea against FIR
Mumbai (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to Mumbai police and Shiv Sena MLA Murji Patel on comedian Kunal Kamra's plea challenging an FIR lodged against him for allegedly passing a "traitor" jibe at Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
A division bench of Justices Sarang Kotwal and S M Modak said it would hear Kamra's petition on April 16.
The comedian has failed to appear before the Mumbai police for questioning despite three summons issued to him.
Following a complaint by Sena MLA Murji Patel, the Khar police in Mumbai last month registered the FIR against Kamra under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 353(1)(b) (statements conducing to public mischief) and 356(2) (defamation).
"Issue notice to the respondents (police and Patel). They shall take instructions and respond to the plea," the HC said.
Three FIRs registered against the comedian at Nashik Rural, Jalgaon and Nashik (Nandgaon) have also been transferred to the Khar police.
Kamra's counsel Navroz Seervai informed the Bombay HC bench that the Madras High Court on Monday extended till April 17 the earlier interim transit anticipatory bail granted to the comedian.
The petitioner has offered in writing thrice to the police to allow him to appear for questioning via video conference in light of the dangers and threat to his life, Seervai said.
"It seems that the police authorities are not so keen on recording his statement but more on bringing him here physically," the senior counsel claimed.
Kamra is presently in Tamil Nadu where he has been residing since 2021, as per his plea.
"This is not a case of murder. It is an FIR that has stemmed from a stand-up comedy show. He (Kamra) is ready to cooperate with the probe but through video conference," Seervai said.
The bench said it would consider all issues on April 16.
During the show, stand-up comedian Kamra had taunted Shinde, without taking his name, using a modified version of a Hindi song from the film "Dil To Pagal Hai" where he called him a "gaddar" (traitor).
The comedian went on to joke about how Shinde rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray's leadership (in June 2022).
In his plea filed on April 5, Kamra claimed the complaints against him were violative of his fundamental rights of freedom of speech and expression, right to practice any profession and business and right to life and liberty guaranteed under the Constitution of India.
He sought for the FIR to be quashed, claiming the allegations, even if taken at face value, do not constitute an offence.
The comedian also sought the HC to protect him from any coercive action including arrest, seizure of his personal electronic devices and examination of his financial transactions and accounts.
"To permit the investigation to continue would constitute a frontal assault on the freedom of speech and expression. Should a citizen's right to comment on the political developments and actions of political leaders be criminalised in this manner?" the petition said.
Kamra said his remarks made regarding the split in the Shiv Sena, Shinde quitting Uddhav Thackeray's Sena faction and being sworn in as the chief minister at the time (in 2022) are all part of records.
The plea said the FIR has been registered on a stand-up comedy performance, which provides satirical commentary on various social and political events of the country.
There has been a gross abuse of process and the malafide deployment of the criminal justice machinery by a member of the state's legislative assembly, resulting in a patent violation of a citizen's fundamental rights, it claimed.
As per the petition, Kamra wrote the show's script in July 2024 and performed it on 60 occasions between August last year and February 2025.
A recording of the show was uploaded only in March 2025, pursuant to which case was lodged, it said.
