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OCBs, FIIs acted as conduits to rig stock prices: The Financial Express
Investigative agencies probing the securities scam have found evidences pointing to re-routing of large domestic funds into the stock markets through overseas corporate bodies (OCBs) based in Mauritius and some other countries.
Investigative agencies probing the securities scam have found evidences pointing to re-routing of large domestic funds into the stock markets through overseas corporate bodies (OCBs) based in Mauritius and some other countries.
High level sources in these agencies told The Financial Express that these OCBs had close links with leading stock market players and some Indian companies but declined to disclose their names.
“Preliminary investigations into activities of some OCBs and sub-accounts of foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have led us to believe that these entities were used as conduits to route Indian funds back into the stock market for buying selective shares,” said an official. Teams of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials have already visited Mauritius, Dubai, the US, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore to probe the role of OCBs and the sub-accounts of FIIs.
The teams were asked to look into OCBs, FIIs associations with stock broker Ketan Parekh, his associates and some corporate houses who had financial links with Mr Parekh. The preliminary report of Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) into price manipulations in the stock market has also found heavy transactions by certain sub-accounts and OCBs in the shares identified with Mr Parekh which gives a firm indication of connections between market players, FIIs and OCBs, said a CBI official. However, CBI sources declined to confirm whether the sub-accounts and OCBs named in the Sebi report were the same which CBI and other investigative agencies were probing. According to Sebi’s preliminary report, “From the analysis of data and other details of trading gathered during the preliminary investigations, it is revealed that certain sub-accounts of FIIs have been predominantly transacting in the scrips identified with Ketan Parekh and his entities. A curious pattern of transactions is observed in the dealings of these sub-accounts.
“Preliminary investigations into activities of some OCBs and sub-accounts of foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have led us to believe that these entities were used as conduits to route Indian funds back into the stock market for buying selective shares,” said an official. Teams of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials have already visited Mauritius, Dubai, the US, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore to probe the role of OCBs and the sub-accounts of FIIs.
The teams were asked to look into OCBs, FIIs associations with stock broker Ketan Parekh, his associates and some corporate houses who had financial links with Mr Parekh. The preliminary report of Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) into price manipulations in the stock market has also found heavy transactions by certain sub-accounts and OCBs in the shares identified with Mr Parekh which gives a firm indication of connections between market players, FIIs and OCBs, said a CBI official. However, CBI sources declined to confirm whether the sub-accounts and OCBs named in the Sebi report were the same which CBI and other investigative agencies were probing. According to Sebi’s preliminary report, “From the analysis of data and other details of trading gathered during the preliminary investigations, it is revealed that certain sub-accounts of FIIs have been predominantly transacting in the scrips identified with Ketan Parekh and his entities. A curious pattern of transactions is observed in the dealings of these sub-accounts.