Brokers come under Sebi scanner for illicit transactions

Several brokers and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) are under scanner of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for having facilitated illicit transactions worth thousands of crores over the past two to three years.

As the market regulator widens its probe into use of stock market platforms for evading taxes and laundering black money, it has emerged during initial investigation Sebi and stock exchanges that such illicit activities tend to accelerate during last few months of a fiscal and quantum of such transactions has grown manifold in the last few years.

According to news agency PTI, a number of such entities, which includes both individuals and corporate brokerage firms, have been found to be repeat offenders for various offences in the securities market and many of them create new shell companies to hide their past precedents.

Those under the scanner also include select listed companies and their promoters who regularly offer their services for channelising black money and for evading taxes through use of stock exchange platforms.

While it may be difficult to quantify the entire value of black money laundered through stock markets, as also the total tax amounts evaded through this platform, sources said that the total figure Probe into use of stock markets for laundering black money widens may easily run into thousands of crores of rupees given the spread of such illicit activities.

In just two cases, where Sebi last week passed interim orders, total illicit gains estimated worth Rs 500 crore have come to the fore in case of a select few entities. Besides, being possible cases of money laundering or tax evasion, Sebi has found such activities to be securities market frauds as well as they involve manipulative transactions in securities and misuse of the market.

While 152 entities have been barred in one case relating to an entity named First Financial Services Ltd, another 108 entities have faced the action in a case related to Radford Global Limited.