Punit Goenka of Zee has been denied temporary relief by the SAT in the SEBI case

30 Aug 2023 , 02:40 PM

Punit Goenka, the former CEO of Zee Entertainment, was denied interim relief by the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) in a SEBI case, according to a report from ET NOW on Wednesday. SEBI has till September 4 to provide a response to the tribunal’s request. The following hearing will occur on September 8.

The market watchdog forbade Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) CEO Punit Goenka and Essel Group Chairman Subhash Chandra from holding any major managerial or directorial positions in listed businesses or their subsidiaries in June of this year. The action was taken as a result of the regulator’s discovery that Chandra and Goenka had misused their authority as directors/KMPs of a publicly traded firm by diverting funds for their own gain.

The market regulator, however, issued a new order earlier this month that forbade Goenka and Chandra from sitting on the boards of four Zee Group companies, including Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. Zee Media Corporation, Zee Media Corp, and Zee Aakash News are the other three Zee group companies.

Chandra and Goenka are not permitted to serve as directors of any firm created as a result of the merger, according to the regulator. Consequently, Goenka’s directing career was impacted after Zee and Sony’s merger. Goenka’s behaviour as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ZEEL was deemed to be in violation of standards to avoid fraud, SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch stated in the judgement.

Buch said that ‘his actions were directly at odds with the interests of 96% of ZEEL’s public shareholders, necessitating the imposition of temporary restraint on him.’

Goenka appealed the tribunal’s decision to prevent him from holding executive roles in four companies belonging to the Zee group and in the amalgamated ZEEL and Sony.

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