Sebi orders attachment of bank, demat, MF accounts of Videocon's Dhoot to recover dues

Markets regulator Sebi has ordered the attachment of bank and demat accounts as well as mutual fund holdings of Videocon Group founder Venugopal Dhoot to recover dues totalling Rs 5.16 lakh.

The latest decision has been taken after Dhoot failed to pay the fine imposed on him in March by Sebi for not making disclosures about his interest in Supreme Energy as well as for not disclosing that Quality Techno Advisors Pvt Ltd (QTAPL) and Credential Finance Ltd (CFL) were related parties with respect to certain transactions.

In an attachment notice on Monday, Sebi said the pending dues of Rs 5.16 lakh include the initial fine of Rs 5 lakh, interest of Rs 15,000 and a recovery cost of Rs 1,000.

To recover the dues, Sebi asked all banks, depositories "CDSL and NSDL" and mutual funds to not allow any debit from the accounts of Dhoot. However, credits have been permitted. Further, Sebi has directed banks to attach all accounts, including lockers, held by the defaulter.

Initiating the recovery proceedings, Sebi said there is sufficient reason to believe that Dhoot may dispose of the amounts in the bank accounts, mutual fund folios and securities in demat accounts held with the depositories and "realisation of the amount due under the certificate would, in consequence, be delayed or obstructed".

In March, Sebi imposed Rs 5 lakh fine on Dhoot after finding that he did not disclose his interest (99.9 per cent shares) in Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL) to Videocon Industries, at the time of grant of loan by the company to SEPL. In addition, Dhoot did not disclose his interest in CFL and QTAPL.

The order came after Sebi conducted an examination following media reports in March 2018 regarding certain 'quid pro quo' arrangements between Dhoot and former Managing Director and Chief Executive Director of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar in lieu of grant of certain credit facilities by ICICI Bank to some entities belonging to the Videocon Group.

The scope of the examination was specifically to ascertain whether Dhoot violated the provisions of LODR (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) rules and provisions of listing agreement in respect of the submissions that were required to be made by Videocon Industries to the stock exchanges.