Mumbai, March 28: After the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) investigations into the price rigging of Cyberspace Ltd shares, government agencies including the Income Tax Department, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) are also looking into any fraudulent transactions involving the company's shares.Sources investigating the entire case said, "The details are being looked into, whether there were any fraudulent transactions to jack the share price." In addition, the government agencies are also looking into the details of the brokers who bought the shares of Cyberspace and the detailed list of the clients for whom the shares were purchased. The investigation also gains importance as Cyberspace Ltd is promoted by Mr Arvind Johari, who has a broking firm, Century Consultants, with membership of both Bombay and National Stock Exchanges. It is believed that Century Consultants, through its franchisee and some other stock brokers, had done circular trading to jack up the stock price last year.
The Rs 10-share touched a high of around Rs 1,200 last year but later crashed and presently the Rs 2-share (after the stock split) is trading at around Rs 20 (or Rs 100 for Rs 10 share). This crash has not only led to the loss in investment of small investors but also of leading institutions like Jardine Fleming, Unit Trust of India (UTI), General Insurance Corporation (GIC), who had subscribed to the share of the company at Rs 930 (for Rs 10 share) in June last year.
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