SEBI imposes fine on Biocon's regulatory affair officer for insider trading
Mumbai: In a major setback to Biocon Ltd., markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)on Friday levied a fine on an employee attached to the drugmaker for violating insider trading norms while dealing in the scrip of the firm.
As per a recent PTI report, the employee, V. Singh (noticee), general manager regulatory affair of Biocon at the time of investigation and also a designated person, is facing a fine of Rs 3 lakh for violating provisions of Prohibition of Insider Trading (PIT) norms.
An investigation carried out by the regulator found that Singh, who held 9,550 shares of the company, acquired through exercise of employee stock option plan (ESOP), sold 3,550 shares between May 2018 to September 2018 without seeking pre-clearance from the compliance officer.
"The noticee by not obtaining pre-clearance from the compliance officer of Biocon for the transactions in question has violated the provisions of PIT Regulations," Sebi stated.
Read also: Biocon Employee Penalized By SEBI For Violating Insider Trading Norms
In addition, Singh also delayed making requisite disclosures.
In terms of PIT Regulations, every promoter, employee and director of every company shall disclose to the company the number of securities acquired or disposed of within two trading days of the transaction if the value of the securities traded crosses a certain threshold.
In the instant case, Singh's transactions exceeded the value of Rs 10 lakh on two occasions and were required to be disclosed within two days, but she failed to do so.
Accordingly, Sebi imposed a consolidated fine of Rs 3 lakh on Singh for both the violations -- not obtaining pre-clearance and making delayed disclosures.
"Taking into consideration all the facts and circumstances of the case including the aforesaid 15J factors and exercising the powers conferred upon me under section 15I of the SEBI Act read with Rule 5 of the Adjudication Rules, I hereby impose a consolidated monetary penalty of ₹ 3,00,000/- (Rupees Three Lakh Only) on the Noticee in totality for both the violations i.e. not obtaining preclearance as well as making delayed disclosures which attracts section 15HB and 15A (b) of the SEBI Act, respectively. In my view, the said penalty is commensurate with the violations committed by the Noticee in this case," the order stated.
To access the official order by SEB, click on the link below-
