Sebi slaps Rs 1 crore fine on 19 entities in Spectacle Infotek case

Mumbai: Capital market regulator Sebi has imposed penalties totalling Rs 1 crore on 19 entities for indulging in fraudulent activities in shares of Spectacle Infotek (SIL).

In an order, the regulator said these entities by "trading amongst themselves indulged in synchronised trading on numerous occasions, resulting no change of beneficial ownership thereby, creating artificial volume in the scrip of SIL which gave a false and misleading appearance of trading in the scrip." The order said that Arcadia Share & Stock Brokers Pvt Ltd has executed fictitious trades, in the nature of self and synchronised trades, on behalf of its clients has violated the provisions of the broker code of conduct.

The case relates to a Sebi probe pursuant to detection of a huge rise in the traded volumes and price of SIL shares during the period from May 1, 2010 to January 31, 2011. It was observed that the price of the scrip unusually increased from Rs 21.75 to Rs 162.80 and the daily high and low traded volume 79,68,043 shares and 31 scrips respectively.