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Minority shareholders of the erstwhile Bank of Rajasthan have alleged that SEBI has not properly calculated the wrongful gains made by the bank’s promoters.
Plans to file suitThe minority shareholders led by VK Garg, RS Agarwal and others in a media conference said this occurred while SEBI was investigating unfair trade practices related to fraudulent dealing in the bank’s shares besides violation of takeover regulations.
The shareholders intend to file a writ petition in the Bombay High Court on Friday. The bank had about 36,000 shareholders of which about 200 are in touch regarding this case.
The promoter made a wrongful disclosure of holding only 28.61 per cent stake whereas the promoter along with persons acting in concert (PAC) actually held 63.15 per cent.
This was found on investigation by the SEBI adjudicating officer. Thus, the wrongful gain worked out at ₹703 crore (the calculation is derived from RBI’s swap ratio of 25 shares of ICICI Bank for every 118 shares of BoR as on August 13, 2010, with the share price of ICICI Bank as on the date of conversion at about ₹940).
They have alleged that the penalty imposed by SEBI was ₹30 crore whereas it should have been the higher of ₹25 crore or three times the ill-gotten gains which is over ₹2,100 crore.
Further they alleged that written complaints in the matter to SEBI did not elicit any response. That the SEBI ED in-charge of investigation is also the Chief Vigilance Officer, which is against the norms of the CVC, is the final allegation. This is because it creates a conflict of interest — he examines any complaint/ allegation/ of the same matters from the vigilance angle that was approved by him in his capacity as ED — Investigation.
SEBI clarificationSEBI, in a statement, said as a matter of policy, SEBI does not comment on the quasi judicial orders passed by it. The order imposing penalty by the Adjudicating Officer was challenged before the Securities Appellate Tribunal and SAT has set aside the penalties in some cases.
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