Sebi bans Pyramid Saimira’s three independent directors

Sending a strong message on the responsibilties of independent directors,the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has banned KS Kasiraman,K Natarahjan and G Ramakrishnan — independent directors of Pyramid Saimira Theatre Limited (PSTL) — from functioning as independent directors or a members of audit committee of any listed company for a period of two years. The Sebi order stated that PSTL inflated its profits and revenues by fictitious entries in its accounts,disclosed the same in quarterly and annual results for the financial year 2007-08 and thereby misled the public in their investment decisions. “Kasiraman,Natarahjan and Ramakrishnan,who were independent directors of PSTL and members of its audit committee at the relevant time,have failed in their duty of care as an independent director and also they have failed to review,as members of the audit committee,the internal control systems,which generated misleading financial statements,” Sebi said. All these facilitated the company to make false and misleading disclosures and thereby created artificial prices and volumes in the securities of PSTL in the market,to the detriment of innocent investors,it said. In December 2010,Sebi had banned P S Saminathan,the former chairman of Pyramid Saimira,from the markets for ten years while his wife Uma Saminathan was handed a five-year ban for a host of acts,including fudging the company’s accounts ,misleading investors ,making false corporate announcements and also for making a preferential allotment to himself without any inflow of funds into the company.