Worries rise for UB Group as fake invites circulated

UB Group finds itself in a controversy, not of its making. A bogus press invite sent under the guise of UB Group's PR team, inviting people for a press conference, to announce a "transformational partnership" got the media excited but was followed up by confusion after UB Group denied ever having sent the invite. CNBC-TV18's Kritika Saxena says this is the latest worry for UB Group which is already in the in the midst of a SEBI investigation for price volatility.

This invite that got the media all worked up this afternoon. Sent allegedly by UB Group's public relation agency, IPAN Hill & Knowlton, it invited the media for a press conference to be held by UB Group CFO Ravi Nedungadi on November 8th at a five star hotel in Mumbai. The invite also said, "Due to the legal statutory guidelines for the listed companies, we are not able to share the news with you before November 8, 2012. However, we will do the same by 9:30 am on the same day." But a few phone calls later, the media was told the invite was a fake. This bizarre development comes at a time when market regulator SEBI is said to be investigating the volatility in the UB Group stocks. SEBI has also apparently taken note of the decline in promoter shareholding of UB Holding for which appropriate disclosures have allegedly not been made. UB Group, IPAN have both denied sending the mail and have confirmed that it is a mail fraud. However, both have not given any clarity on the next course of action. Sources say that UB Group executives are likely to file a police complaint against the issue. Sources in the public relations agency say that they only undertake PR activities for Kingfisher Airlines and not the entire group. This is not the first time that an attempt has been made to influence stocks prices using fakes. The last time it was in the case of Pyramid Saimira where SEBI documents were forged to rig stock price. That case is still buried in the case files of Mumbai Police.