Yes, we need to tighten market norms, says the SEBI point man

Yes, we need to tighten market norms, says the SEBI point man
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

MUMBAI, SEPT 6: As the Tips Cassette issue sparks off a debate over what the Securities and Exchange Board of India should do to make the market more safe, the man heading the SEBI's committee on market reforms says that rules need to be tightened to improve the quality of disclosures.

Yezdi Malegam, Sr Partner of the Chartered Accountancy firm S B Billimoria and Co, said that although no decision had been taken on whether SEBI should have powers to stop certain companies from entering the market, there was no doubt that strict monitorning was needed. ``Of course we have to tighten the norms,'' he said, ``the only difficulty is that we have to define some kind of objective criteria on the basis of which SEBI can prevent a company from tapping public money.''

Ramesh Taurani, one of the main promoters of Tips Cassettes, has been charged with abetting the murder of T-Series promoter and music magnate Gulshan Kumar in August 1997.

In a written communication to The Indian Express, SEBI said that the issue of preventing a chargesheeted promoter from tapping the market is under the consideration of the Malegam Committee.

In the Tips Cassettes case, whose public issue through the book building route opened for subscription on September 5, Ramesh Taurani stepped down as director only in April 2000 when the company initially planned its public issue.

Taurani was charged under Sections 302, 307, 379 of the IPC dealing with murder, atttempt to murder and conspiracy to murder, respectively apart from some other offences. A case was filed by the Crime Branch (CR 71) the same year.

Gulshan Kumar's assailants were suspected to be close to then Dubai-based gangster Abu Salem. According to the chargesheet, Taurani, also a big player in the music industry, had paid Rs 25 lakh to Salem through music director Nadeem Saifi for killing Kumar. The police claim the conspiracy was hatched earlier in January.

According to police reports, the money was concealed in two cardboard boxes and collected from a manufacturing unit located at Laxmi Industrial Estate located on New Link Road at Andheri (east). The car was driven by one Silvaraj, the police claimed.

The police claim that a call was made to Abu Salem from Taurani's mobile phone after the killing and has produced the ``print-out'' as evidence. So far the police have named 19 accused in the chargesheet. While 12 are in jail, seven are still at large. Taurani was in custody for 18 days during which his bail was turned down by the Sessions Court as well as the Supreme Court. Finally, he was released on bail by the Sessions Court on October 23.

The police expect the trial to start in Mumbai any time now.