SEBI fines Zee, Chandra and Goenka for ₹726cr collateral
SEBI has fined Zee Entertainment and its top bosses, Subhadh Chandra and Punit Goenka, after finding they diverted company assets without getting the green light from the board.
Turns out, the promoters' Essel Group used Zee's Hyderabad property as collateral to snag a ₹726 crore loan, without telling anyone on record.
Zee barred from markets, fined ₹30L
Zee didn't mention this deal as a related-party transaction in its financial reports, which is a big regulatory no-no.
SEBI also found that Punit Goenka signed off on misleading certificates and didn't come clean about these moves.
The fallout: Zee is barred from the stock markets for two months, Chandra and Goenka can't access the market for one year, and there are fines, ₹30 lakh for Zee, ₹60 lakh for Chandra, and ₹58 lakh for Goenka.
They've got three months to close open derivative positions and 45 days to pay up.