Market regulator SEBI has cracked the whip on Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) over securities law violations, with the company, Chief Executive Punit Goenka and Founder-Chairman Emeritus Subhash Chandra facing penalties totalling ₹14.8 million, news agency Reuters reported.
Event Context
Goenka faces a fine of ₹5.8 million, while Chandra faces a penalty of ₹6 million after the SEBI’s 150-page order issued naming Goenka, Chandra and ZEEL on Friday.
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The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) also barred Goenka and Chandra from the securities market for one year.
ZEEL has also been fined ₹3 million and barred from the securities market for two months.
The trouble for the company stems from a SEBI investigation which found that the company had used its land in Hyderabad as security for loans taken by large shareholder-linked entities without proper approvals.
The market regulator found that ZEEL’s property was deployed for the benefit of related entities and the arrangement was not disclosed to the company’s board, audit committee, shareholders or investors.
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SEBI in its order said that four entities of Essel Group had availed four separate loans aggregating to ₹726 crores from Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited (“IHFL”) on December 13, 2016.
“As on March 31, 2019, Essel Home held the entire share capital of each of the four borrowing entities. Though the ownership of Essel Home was held through multiple corporate layers, the investigation traced its ultimate ownership and control to Ms. Sushila Goenka, Noticee No.2 and Essel International Limited,” SEBI said.
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SEBI noted that a listed company’s assets are held in trust for all shareholders and cannot be used to benefit promoter-controlled entities without proper approvals and governance safeguards. It found that the unauthorised use of the company’s assets as collateral was a fraudulent practice that harmed investor interests and violated the SEBI Act and the Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices (PFUTP) Regulations.
In recent years, ZEEL has been under SEBI scanner for several allegations involving fund diversion, related-party transactions and corporate governance issues.
