Insider buying and selling fees: Supreme Court upholds Gammon India promoter’s acquittal

The Supreme Court has upheld the acquittal of Gammon India promoter Abhijit Rajan on insider buying and selling fees after market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had moved the highest courtroom difficult Rajan’s acquittal in 2019 by the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT).

In its order, the SC dismissed Sebi’s enchantment on the grounds that the data primarily based on which Rajan traded shares of Gammon India (GIPL) resulted in a achieve in share worth when inventory exchanges had been intimated about it and that his act of promoting shares upfront didn’t meet the factors of “profit motive” important to determine an insider buying and selling cost; and that the proceeds from the share sale had been used to satisfy funding necessities for restructuring the corporate’s debt.

In its plea, Sebi had argued that Gammon had terminated a shareholders settlement with Simplex Infrastructure by the use of which the 2 firms would have taken 49 per cent stakes in one another’s freeway tasks.

“…we are of the view on Question No.1 that the information regarding the termination of the two contracts can be characterised as price sensitive information, in that it was likely to place the existing shareholders in an advantageous position, once the information came into the public domain. In such circumstances, our answer to Question No.2 would be that the sale by the respondent, of the shares held by him in GIPL would not fall within the mischief of insider trading, as it was somewhat similar to a distress sale, made before the information could have a positive impact on the price of the shares… Our answers to Question Nos. 1 and 2 are sufficient to hold that the impugned order of the Tribunal does not call for any interference. Therefore, the appeal is dismissed,” a two-judge SC bench of Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice V Ramasubramanian famous.