Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Ramesh Damani, others offer to settle Aptech insider-trading case: Report

Ushma Sheth, the sister of Utpal Sheth, CEO of Jhunjhunwala’s Rare Enterprises, and Madhu Vadera Jayakumar, a board member of Aptech, have also sought to settle the issue, the report added quoting sources.

Last year, notices and summons were issued to all these investors and some were even questioned.

Sebi has been probing trading in Aptech shares by these investors between February and September 2016. The regulator found that there was unpublished price-sensitive information in Aptech when the high profile investors were dealing in the company shares.

Jhunjhunwala has management control over Aptech and is also on its board. In September 2016, the Aptech share price hit the 10 percent upper circuit after Jhunjhunwala’s brother and sister bought 2.5 lakh and 5 lakh shares, respectively.

Both these trades combined were worth over Rs 100 crore then. In just a few days, Aptech announced entry into the pre-school education segment, the report added.

Under consent settlement, those being probed by SEBI can pay a fine, as determined by a regulatory committee, and get away without ‘accepting’ or ‘denying’ the act of alleged wrongdoing. There is no ‘guilty’ pronouncement.