Discussion on companies run by the Ambani brothers -- Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Petroleum -- took place in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday in connection with alleged violations of government regulations.
Acting finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, in a written reply, said Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Petroleum Ltd was one of the 19 companies against which complaints of insider trading were received by market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India.
"During the last three years, including the current year (up to 31 Jan 2009), Sebi is in receipt of complaints alleging insider trading in the shares of 19 listed companies.
"One of (them) is against Reliance Petroleum Ltd, an oil-based company," he added.
Responding to another written question, minister of state for finance Pawan Kumar Bansal said that the Reserve Bank referred the cases of violation of the external commercial borrowings regulations by Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, earlier known as Reliance Energy, to the Enforcement Directorate.
He added "RBI referred the FEMA violations relating to the two ECBs ($360 million and $150 million raised in July and November 2006 respectively) to the Directorate of Enforcement on November 7, 2008 for necessary action".
Mukherjee further said that Sebi received complaints of insider trading against nine companies in 2006, six in 2007, three in 2008 and one in 2009.
He, however, did not name any company except RPL. As insider trading is an offence, Mukherjee said Sebi has been 'taking proactive measures aimed at greater level of investor protection, by passing order of debarment, imposing monetary penalty and initiating prosecution'.
The case against RPL pertains to volatility observed in the shares of the company in November 2007, when its price touched an intraday life-time high of Rs 295 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Following volatility, Sebi had asked the BSE and NSE to examine the trading in the scrip of RPL in the cash and derivatives markets on November 1 and November 29, 2007.
