Parekh trades due to regulatory oversight: Sucheta Dalal

Here is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with Sucheta Dalal on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

 Q: You have probably been the only journalist in this country who has doggedly followed all of the twists and the turns in the Ketan Parekh saga and it is astonishing that five and a half years after he was banned, his name continues to crop up in multiple investigations and he is found to be active in this market place. Why is that?

A: That is because nobody is investigating what he is doing; nobody wants to find out what is his source of income. And since they ignore him, he obviously thrives on this market place.  

Q: When you say that nobody is investigating, the fact is that over a period of time even upto 2005-2006, I remember an article that you wrote on his investigation, you have mentioned then that no one is investigating what his source of income is. That lies at the root of this problem?

A: Absolutely, I personally find it astonishing that he could go to court and say "Give me bail, I will return the money in installments." When the man has been caught for market manipulation and he was declared the central figure in the scam of 2000, how can any court even accept that he is going to repay them in installments?

He has gone back every time even to negotiate what that repayment is going to be. At every stage, I have asked people who are in the regulatory agencies and in the investigation agencies, "How come none of you - you are chasing all kinds of people for not paying their taxes and how come you are not interested in where this man's money is coming from?" The answer was-I am not going to name anybody but a lot of people in these agencies said, "They have been told not to look at it." So the question is why are they looking now? Is it convenient, are they under pressure, is it that there is one person who is looking at it, the changes in regulatory structure, somebody in-charge - but that is how everything goes on. You can fix things, you are fine, and nobody wants to look at it. If somebody decides to chase you then it is all there evident and all the questions that we have asked not for one year but for nine years. From 2000 this man has always been around. Infact in 2003, when they decided to give him this 14 year ban, at that time I remember writing that the rumours in the market are that he is active even today. So, what is the meaning of this 14 year ban that you are talking about?
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