The Securities and Exchange Board of India on Wednesday banned businessman Vijay Mallya and six others from trading in the securities market in connection with a funds diversion case. The regulator said that funds for United Spirits Limited were diverted to other United Breweries companies, including the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
In an order, Sebi has said that Mallya, former managing director of USL Ashok Cumar, and five others are “restrained from accessing the securities market and are further prohibited from buying, selling or otherwise dealing in securities in any manner whatsoever, either directly or indirectly”. Mallya and Capoor have also been banned “from holding position as directors or key managerial persons of any listed company”.
Sebi has found that Mallya was “instrumental in the diversion of funds from USL” and that he and company employees “committed fraudulent and unfair activities prohibited under SEBI Act,” Mint reported.
Mallya and others are involved in several cases connected with the airline, and the liquor baron, who left India in March 2016, owes around Rs 900 crore to 17 banks. On Tuesday, the Central Bureau of Investigation had filed a chargesheet against Mallya and 11 others in a loan default case. The CBI had also made eight arrests in the case. The CBI is also planning to declare Mallya, who fled to the United Kingdom on March 2 last year, a “proclaimed offender”, which will allow the agency to attach his properties under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
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