PS Saminathan victim of circumstances: Pyramid Saimira

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The Securities and Exchanges Board of India (Sebi) has blown the lid off a forgery masterminded by the promoter of Pyramid Saimira - Nirmal kotecha and the investigations have revealed a nexus between him, Rakesh Sharma, a PR agent representing Adfactors, journalist Rajesh Unnikrishanan and a few market operators.

PS Saminathan, CEO, Pyramid Saimira was also barred from trading.

Commenting on the situation, N Narayan, Director, Pyramid Saimira, said the company welcomes Sebi's order because the company was a victim of price manipulation. "So that only vindicates that some vested interest were disturbing us."

Also Read:

Pyramid Saimira Forgery: A historical perspective

Sebi bars Kotecha, associates from trading on stock mkts

Here is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with N Narayan on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.
Q: What's your reaction to this Sebi's order?

A: We welcome Sebi's order because the promoters of this company are Natrajan, myself and PS Saminathan and Nirmal Kotecha was only an investor. We welcome the order because the company was a victim of price manipulation. So it only vindicates that some vested interest were disturbing us.

Q: The Sebi order doesn't indict only Nirmal Kotecha. The Sebi order also has indicted Mr. Saminathan; in fact it says that Saminathan has prima-facie been misleading by putting out information, wrongful disclosures. What do you have to say about that?

A: Saminathan is this case is a victim of circumstance and we are very confident that he will be able to prove his innocence to Sebi and other authorities as we are holding documentary evidence on it.

Q: Also actually the order says that these misleading public statements have gone ahead and facilitated Nirmal Kotecha as well.

A: They have not said like that. Saminathan was only a victim of circumstances. You will see Sebi order has no strictures against the company and there has also not made any benefit out of any transaction by Saminathan according to Sebi if you observe.

Q: I am reading from the Sebi order. It clearly says that PS Saminathan made prime-facie misleading announcement to create public interest for facilitating Shree Nirmal Kotecha in offloading those shares. What's your response to that?

A: This has happened because Saminathan was a victim of circumstances. We will be able to establish to the authorities that Saminathan was innocent in this matter.

Q: When the forged Sebi letter was out in the open, did you have any inkling of the operation or the nexus between Nirmal Kotecha, market operators as well as journalists?

A: We never suspected him because he has been an investor with our company. We thought he was a well-wisher like any other investor. We never thought he would have done such a thing.

Q: So what's your next course of action now that Mr. Saminathan has been banned from the market?

A: As far as the company is concerned we are busy consolidating our operations and we are focusing on further improving the intrinsic value of the company. We are very busy in our group companies. We are concentrating on operation management and with response to the Sebi issue - we are really happy that Sebi has made out a case. The company has been totally exonerated. So we are happy that we have not done any mistake.

Sebi has nowhere said that the company or any promoter has gained anything from the whole thing. Mentioning of Saminathan's name is only for the so-called statement.

Q: It is not as simple as that. It is not that they have just mentioned Mr. Saminathan in passing. They have also barred Saminathan from dealing with the stock markets. So how can you say that the promoters have been exonerated completely?

A: We do not see such eventuality because we know very well which transaction has happened and we have got documentary evidence. Mr. Saminathan has been transparent with the board and we are convinced that he has not done anything which is not in the company's interest. We are also convinced that he will prove his innocence with Sebi and other authorities.