SEBI sends Rs 26 crore notice to Reliance Big Entertainment in RHFL fund case

Mumbai, Nov 16 (IANS) The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has fined Reliance Big Entertainment Rs 26 crore for failure to clear penalties imposed by the capital markets regulator.

The company earlier failed to pay penalties in a case pertaining to illegal diversion of funds. SEBI issued the demand notice after Reliance Big Entertainment failed to pay the Rs 25 crore fine imposed by the regulator in August this year.

SEBI has directed the entity to pay Rs 26 crore, including interest and recovery costs within 15 days. If Reliance Big Entertainment fails to make the payment within the stipulated deadline, the regulator can attach its assets, including bank accounts.

In August this year, the markets regulator barred industrialist Anil Ambani and 24 other entities for five years for diversion of funds from Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL).

The SEBI also fined Ambani Rs 25 crore and prohibited him from holding any position in the securities market, including roles as a director or key managerial personnel in listed companies, for the same duration.

In a 222-page order, SEBI said that Anil Ambani, with the help of RHFL's key managerial personnel, orchestrated a fraudulent scheme to siphon off funds from RHFL by disguising them as loans to entities linked to him.

"The Board of Directors of RHFL issued strong directives to stop such lending practices and reviewed corporate loans regularly but the company's management ignored these orders. This suggests a significant failure of governance, driven by certain key managerial personnel under the influence of Anil Ambani," it stated.

The other 24 entities which have been barred include Amit Bapna, Ravindra Sudhalkar and Pinkesh R. Shah -- former key officials of RHFL. The regulator levied a fine of Rs 27 crore on Bapna, Rs 26 crore on Sudhalkar, and Rs 21 crore on Shah.

The remaining entities -- Reliance Unicorn Enterprises, Reliance Exchangenext Lt, Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd, Reliance Cleangen Ltd, Reliance Business Broadcast News Holdings Ltd, and Reliance Big Entertainment Private Ltd -- were imposed a penalty of Rs 25 crore each.

—IANS

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