On February 3, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had banned the Biyani bothers and FCRL from accessing the securities market for one year for indulging in alleged insider trading activity in the shares of
(FRL) in 2017.
The regulator also barred the Biyani brothers and FCRL from buying, selling or dealing in the shares of FRL directly or indirectly for two years and imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on each of them. Sebi has also directed the three to “disgorge” Rs 17.78 crore along with 12% interest.
The case relates to the regulator’s investigation into possible insider trading in FRL stock between March 10 and April 20, 2017. Sebi said FRL had on April 20, 2017, informed stock exchanges during market hours about the scheme of arrangement among FRL, Bluerock eServices Pvt Ltd and Praxis Home Retail Pvt Ltd. The scheme of arrangement resulted in the demerger of certain business of FRL.
The announcement also had a positive impact on FRL shares, Sebi said.
“From the KYC (know your client) document provided by
(stock broker), investigation observed that the trading account of noticee no. 1 (FCRL) with Indiabulls was opened on March 27, 2017, by noticee no. 2 (Kishore Biyani) and noticee no. 3 (Anil Biyani),” Sebi said in its order. “Subsequently, trading by noticee no. 1 in the scrip of FRL was done on March 29, 2017, and March 30, 2017, which was just after the account opening and just prior to the announcement dated April 20, 2017.”
