GTB: Sebi denies getting ministry notice

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman G.N. Bajpai on Monday maintained that the Finance Ministry has not sought any explanation from the market regulator with regard to the Sebi order lifting the ban on 14 entities for their alleged involvement in the manipulation of Global Trust Bank (GTB) stock in the Ketan Parekh scam of 2000-01. Bajpai reiterated that Sebi has launched a full-fledged probe into the share trading of GTB, including alleged insider-trading prior to it being placed under moratorium and announcement of merger. On the issue of explanation on GTB he said ‘‘I haven’t received any communication from the finance ministry on the GTB issue. Our office has not been asked for any clarification in this regard’’. The Sebi chief made these comments after inaugurating the electronic issuer interface facility on the NSE. On the lifting of ban on these 14 entities, Bajpai said ‘‘The ban imposed on 14 entities was going to expire on June 30, 2004... these were small entities. These entities had already gone to SAT, so we had to lift the ban. Moreover, other regulators have not expressed concerns over the lifting of ban on these entities from trading in GTB stock.’’ When questioned why the notification of lifting of trading ban on 14 entities was not put up on the Sebi website, Bajpai said “The market regulator has disseminated all the information in this regard in a proper way’’.