SEBI bans Anil Ambani, 24 other entities from securities market for five years

The Securities and Exchange Board of India on Thursday banned businessman Anil Ambani and 24 other persons and companies from the capital markets for five years for fraudulently diverting funds from Reliance Home Finance Limited.

In its order, the markers regulator also imposed a fine of Rs 25 crore on Ambani, saying he had orchestrated a fraudulent scheme to siphon off funds from the financial services company by structuring them as loans to entities linked to him.

Reliance Home Finance Limited is part of the Reliance ADAG Group.

Ambani, the chairman of the conglomerate, has been barred from being associated with the securities market, including as a director or as key managerial personnel in any listed company, or any intermediary registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, during this period.

Reliance Home Finance Limited has also been banned for six months from the securities market and fined Rs 6 lakh.

The markets regulator noted that Reliance Home Finance Limited’s management had ignored the directives given by the board of directors, which reviewed corporate loans regularly, to stop such lending practices.

This showed a failure on part of the governance of the financial services company, which was driven by certain key managerial personnel under the influence of Ambani, the regulator said.

Under these circumstances, Reliance...

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