Former SEBI board member K. M. Abraham, in his statement to the CBI, has drawn attention to the decisions of SEBI since 2011 when the present Chairman, U. K. Sinha, assumed office.
“After Mr. Bhave and I left SEBI, there were several regulatory permissions and orders from SEBI between 2011 and 2014 that were issued to MCX-SX and directly or indirectly linked to the promoters… Many of them had far more regulatory implications and carried much greater risks to the markets,” Mr. Abraham says, terming it ‘curious’ that the CBI did not select for its enquiry any of the permissions and sanctions. SEBI permitted MCX-SX to start a full-fledged stock exchange in July 2012, and, thereafter, extended its recognition to the exchange in September 2012. SEBI again extended its recognition to MCX-SX in September 2013, a couple of months after the Rs.5,600-crore scam at NSEL came to light in July.
Meanwhile, the Forward Markets Commission, regulator of the commodities markets, found Financial Technologies, promoter of MCX-SX as not ‘fit and proper’. SEBI did the same much later in March 2014.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mr. Abraham has also hinted at the possibility of a connection between the incarceration of Subrata Roy, Sahara Group founder, on March 4 and the registration of the PE against him and Mr. Bhave exactly nine days later, on March 13. It was Mr. Abraham’s order against two Sahara entities in June 2011 that lead to the unravelling of the group and its activities.