Omaxe Shares Fall 5 Percent; Hits Lower Circuit

Shares of Omaxe fell 5 per cent on Wednesday after Sebi barred the real estate firm, its Chairman Rohtas Goel, MD Mohit Goel and three others from the securities market for two years for irregularities in the company's financial statements. The stock of the company declined 4.99 per cent to Rs 152.20 apiece -- its lower circuit limit -- on the BSE. It fell 5 per cent to hit the lower circuit limit of Rs 154.19 per piece on the NSE. The 30-share BSE Sensex index jumped 259.06 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 81,715.36 points, while NSE Nifty rose 44.40 points to 24,901.70.

On Tuesday, Sebi restrained Omaxe, its Chairman, MD, and three others from the securities market for two years for irregularities in the company's financial statements. The others restrained from the securities markets are Sudhangshu S Biswal, Arun Kumar Pandey and Vimal Gupta. These five persons have also been "prohibited from holding any position as Director or Key Managerial Person of any other listed company for a period of two years", Sebi said. Apart from these, the markets watchdog has levied a fine totalling Rs 47 lakh on 16 entities, including these six entities.

The penalties range from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 7 lakh. In its order, Sebi said these entities have "acted in concert in order to execute a fraudulent scheme which they tried to portray as normal transactions for the benefit of the company although it was experiencing loss, while also trying to portray these as merely lending activities, thereby trying to maintain the price of the scrip of Omaxe for a period of three years". The company (Omaxe) misrepresented the financial statements during 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 through its various items -- revenue, debtors, advances, and expenses.

"By the act of large-scale misrepresentation/misstatement/manipulation in financial statements by Omaxe, the scrip price was directly or indirectly manipulated to maintain the value of the collateral kept by the promoter against the loan," Sebi noted. Furthermore, the fraud was never disclosed to shareholders of Omaxe, which misled them to remain invested in its shares or deal in its securities. Also misrepresentation of the books and accounts of Omaxe misled the investors in the securities market, it added. Accordingly, Sebi has barred six entities, including Omaxe, Rohtas Goel, Mohit Goel and three others from "accessing the securities market and further prohibited from buying, selling or otherwise dealing in securities, directly or indirectly, or being associated with the securities market in any manner, whatsoever, for a period of two years".

The order came after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) received a complaint against Omaxe alleging that the company conducted fraudulent transactions, diverted/siphoned of funds, misrepresented the financial statements, inflated turnover among others. As these allegations were serious in nature, the matter was taken up for further examination by Sebi, including a forensic audit into the affairs of Omaxe. The investigation period in the matter was taken from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2021 that includes FY 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21.

(PTI)