Eight former, current Paytm officials pay Rs 3.32 cr to settle case with SEBI

New Delhi: As many as eight current and former officials of One97 Communications, which owns and operates Paytm, have collectively paid Rs 3.32 crore to markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to settle allegations of flouting securities market norms.

Those who have settled the case are the company's former compliance officer and company secretary Amit Khera; Ashit Ranjit Lilani, Neeraj Arora, Mark Schwartz and Pallavi Shardul Shroff, who were holding the positions of independent directors; and then non-executive nominee directors -- Douglas Feagin, Munish Varma and Ravi Chandra Adusumalli, according to a SEBI order.

The order came after these officials proposed to settle the proceedings initiated against them through a show cause notice issued on May 17 "without admitting or denying of the findings".

"In view of the receipt of settlement amount by Sebi, the instant adjudication proceedings initiated against the noticees vide show cause notice...dated May 17, 2024, are hereby disposed of," Sebi said in its settlement order.

The SEBI initiated adjudication proceedings in the matter of One97 Communications for the alleged violations of provisions of LODR (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) norms and ICDR (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations.

It was alleged that independent directors being part of NRC (Nomination and Remuneration Committee) failed to discharge duties with unbiased and independent approach while decision-making with respect to matters involving benefits to the company's MD and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma and his relatives, in violation of LODR Regulations, 2015.

These directors allegedly approved and signed offer documents containing incorrect statements and incomplete disclosures, in violation of ICDR rules.

Besides, other directors signed offer documents containing incorrect statements and incomplete disclosures with respect to the company, being a professionally managed firm having no identifiable promoter whereas the company having promoter Sharma, in violation of ICDR Regulations rules.

These individuals settled the allegations by paying a settlement amount to Sebi. Individually, Lilani and Arora paid Rs 53.62 lakh each, Adusumalli, Schwartz, Shroff, Feagin and Varma remitted Rs 42.9 lakh each and Khera shelled out Rs 11.05 lakh.