Sebi official rebels against Mehta

Sebi official rebels against Mehta
ENS Economic Bureau

Mumbai, March 13: In a sensational development on a day when Parliament was debating the stockmarket crisis, a Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) official came out openly in revolt against Sebi chairman Devendra Raj Mehta, accusing him of mismanagement, malfunctioning and corruption.

G S Reddy, deputy general manager with Sebi, made public a letter written by him to finance minister Yashwant Sinha, seeking an audience with him to expose what he called a ``scandal in Sebi.'' The letter has requested the finance minister's intervention in the matter.

Accusing Mehta of subjecting him to various kinds of harassments in Sebi, the letter says that the Sebi chairman's actions ``are questionable, lacks integrity and often with malfeasance.''

``The widespread feeling of mis-treatment and the unprofessional attitude has somehow been suppressed within our minds itself,'' Mr Reddy says in the letter, saying that having resisted the suppression of facts for quite long, he thought this was the right time to come out openly on the matter.

Seeking the finance minister's ``protection'' from the ``mischievous acts of chairman of Sebi'', Mr Reddy says the scandal which he is aware of was perpetrated by Mr Mehta wherein investors have been taken for a ride on account of the flouting of all laid down rules and regulations by Sebi.

The letter accuses Mr Mehta of taking money for charity purposes from market players including Mr Anand Rathi (``as people say''), making more than 30 visits abroad in the past five years usually accompanied by his wife at Sebi's cost, frequently visiting Jaipur/Jodhpur, his hometowns at Sebi cost and not following a transparent policy of promotions, recruitment or deputation.

Reacting to the litany of allegations in the letter, Mehta said:``It is most unfortunate that such baseless allegations are being made. I have been paying up all the extra travel expenses incurred from my own pocket. This is allowed under the rules.''

On taking money from market players for charity purposes, he said he was not an office-bearer of any charitable trust and that he had not collected ``a single paisa'' from market players for this purpose.

Sebi sources said Mr Reddy was involved in a case of disciplinary action against him and the date for a final hearing was expected to be set anytime now.