Sebi holds hearing on IPO scam

The Securities and Exchange Board of India had a hearing today on the controversial issue of the role of the National Securities Depository Ltd in the IPO scam of 2005.

Details of the hearing could not be ascertained. Last month, Sebi  had dismissed the recommendations made by a committee in two of three matters filed on the subject.

The committee looked into NSDL's role in the scam. It was set up after C B Bhave became Sebi chairman and then recused himself from hearing the three cases, as he had headed NSDL earlier.

In the IPO scam, the committee had rapped both Sebi and NSDL. The scam, unearthed in April 2006, involved depositories, including NSDL, despository participants and market operators, who allegedly helped some entities use 59,000 fictitious demat accounts to get shares meant for small investors.