SAT partially stays SEBI order on brokers in co-location case

On Monday, three brokers including GKN Securities, Way2Wealth and OPG Securities got partial reprieve from SEBI strictures passed against them in the co-location scam. The SEBI order in the co-location scam was issued last week, which imposed various strictures against the NSE, its officials and brokers.

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) stayed the SEBI order on barring brokers from the capital markets. But the tribunal has asked the three brokers to deposit 50 per cent of the penalty amount as security by May 20. SAT also stayed the SEBI order on barring three NSE officials from holding any position in any market intermediaries for two years.

Last week, SEBI barred OPG Securities and its directors Sanjay Gupta, Sangeeta Gupta and Om Prakash Gupta from the markets for five years for securing unfair access to NSE’s trading systems. They were also told to pay ₹15.57 crore along with interest of 12 per cent from April 2014 onwards.

Both Way2Wealth Brokers and GKN Securities were barred by SEBI for one year from accepting any new client. Way2Wealth was asked to pay a fine of ₹15.34 crore along with interest at 12 per cent a year from September 10, 2015, while GKN was fined ₹4.9 crore, which it was required to pay along with interest of 12 per cent from September 11, 2015.

On Friday last week, SEBI allowed these brokerages to close their open positions in the futures and options (F&O) and currency derivatives segments within two months.

Stays bar on SEBI honchos

Separately, the tribunal has stayed the SEBI orders that barred Ravi Varanasi, who was head of business development at the NSE, Nagendra Kumar (head of the membership department), and Deviprasad Singh (head of co-location support) for two years from holding any position with a market player.

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