The Securities and the Exchange Board of India on Thursday confirmed the ban imposed on Ramesh Gelli on June 13, 2003, barring him from dealing in Global Trust Bank securities till June 30, 2004. The total period of debarment thus amounts to 18 months from December 31, 2002.
Along with Gelli, Sebi had also barred Premkala Gelli, Jayant Madhav, Girish Gelli, Niraj Gelli, Sridhar Subasri, Annapurna Sridhar and the associate entities Anjanaya Traders Pvt. Ltd., Chiranjeevi Traders Pvt. Ltd, Gajanan Financial Services Pvt Ltd, Gajmukh Investments Pvt Ltd, Kadrish Finance & Investments Pvt Ltd, and Bombay Mahalakshmi Traders Pvt Ltd, a Sebi release posted on its website said.
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On March 31, 2000, GTB had allotted 1.48 crore (14.8 million) shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 75 per share to various institutions, mutual funds, and corporate bodies on a private placement basis. Since it also involved some foreign collaboratoras of the bank, necessary RBI and Sebi clearances were obtained.
But the RBI had pointed out that the GTB scrip price had risen 34.86 per cent from Rs 68.70 on October 13, 2000 to Rs 92.65 on November 10, 2000 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
A Sebi investigation in the price movements in the scrip prima-facie revealed irregularities in the trading pattern such as the "synchronisation of logging in of trades in a pre meditated fashion, creation of artificial volumes, circular trading, churning of the same stock, market manipulation, among others."
In an ex-parte order issued on December 31, 2002, Sebi prohibited the promoters and associated entities from dealing in the GTB securities till investigations were completed.
After giving a post decisional hearing on June 13, 2003,Sebi passed an order maintaining its ban. Subsequently, a show cause notice was issued on October 21, 2003 communicating the findings of the investigation and charges.
Sebi investigations also revealed that price of the shares of Global Trust Bank were manipulated during the period October 2000 to February 2001 prior to announcement of its proposed merger with UTI Bank.
During the period before this, the Ketan Parekh entities had cornered large number of shares and the price was manipulated by the KP entities.
Passing the order on Tuesday, the Sebi chairman said that the investigations "show that the price and volumes of GTB were artificially manipulated. The promoters and entities though not responsible for the price manipulation were certainly responsible for creation of artificial volumes in the scrip. By their commissions and omissions, the said entities directly and indirectly aided and abetted Ketan Parekh entities to manipulate the prices and volumes of the scrip."
Further, "the prohibition, which is remedial in nature is not a total prohibition from dealing in securities, it is only a partial prohibition restraining the said entities from dealing in the securities of GTB. Taking into all the facts and circumstances, I am of the considered view that it would be in the interest of investors and orderly development of the securities market that the said partial prohibition continues for some time more," the Sebi chairman's order said.