SEBI on Wednesday cracked the whip on former MCX and Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL) officials for insider trading, which may have helped them avert losses of about ₹125 crore.

The markets regulator has found that key managerial persons of FTIL (63 Moons Technologies) and MCX used Unpublished Price Sensitive Information (UPSI) to sell their shares and avoid losses.

SEBI has impounded the gains made by sale of shares using the information, it said in a release.

Amount to be recovered

The regulator passed an order against Shreekant Javalgekar, Asha Javalgekar, Manish Shah, Prakash Shah, Hariharan Vaidyalingam, V Arvindkumar Iyengar, Dhanashri and Bharat Sheth, former key officials of FTIL, MCX and their relatives.

Finding them “prima facie guilty of insider trading”, the regulator said it has become necessary to take steps to impound and retain the amount they would have lost.

The offenders sold their FTIL shares between August 22, 2012 and March 8, 2013 after a government circular issued on April 27, 2012 banned trading in a group company, NSEL. SEBI believes that the sale of shares by key managerial persons was in the wake of the circular.

“The relatively substantial sale of FTILshares by the aforementioned entities from August 22, 2012 to March 8, 2013, was when in possession of UPSI. The aforementioned entities therefore, engaged in insider trading which is prohibited under the Insider Trading Regulations, 1992 read with the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015,” said a SEBI release.

Responding to the development, 63 Moons put out a release saying: “63 Moons Technologies notes that the order passed today is pertaining to certain individuals and not pertaining to the company. The company will be studying the said order and take necessary action as it may deem fit.”

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