Kishore Biyani, Future Corporate Resources move Securities Appellate Tribunal against SEBI market ban

File image: Future Group Chairman Kishore Biyani

Future Group founder and CEO Kishore Biyani, brother Anil Biyani and promoter entity Future Corporate Resources have approached the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) to challenge a Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) order that barred all three parties and other related entities from accessing the securities market for a year, people with knowledge of the matter told Moneycontrol.

“The e-filing of the pleas has been done at SAT and the matter is likely to come up for hearing shortly,” one of the individuals cited above told Moneycontrol on the condition of anonymity.

Also Read: SEBI bans Future CEO Kishore Biyani from securities market in insider trading case

SAT is a three-member tribunal based in Mumbai and is headed by a Presiding Officer and hears appeals against SEBI orders.

A Future Group spokesperson was unavailable for immediate comment.

The case pertains to alleged insider trading between March and April 2017 and the regulator’s order says the two brothers traded in shares of Future Retail through Future Corporate Resources on the basis of unpublished price sensitive information before a demerger of certain businesses of Future Retail was made public.

On February 3, following the SEBI order, Future Group issued a statement saying the order would not impact its deal with Reliance Industries.

“The SEBI Order issued today 3rd February 2021, in connection with a bar on dealing in securities has taken care to exclude dealings in securities under any impending Scheme of Arrangement.  Therefore, the SEBI would not pose a hurdle to the ongoing Scheme of Arrangement with the Reliance Group. Further, on merits, the SEBI Order is untenable since it treats a well-anticipated and publicly well-known impending reorganisation of the home furnishing businesses that the Future Group effected in 2017 to be unpublished information.  The Order will be challenged in the exercise of the statutory right to appeal,” it said.

The Delhi High Court is hearing a plea by Amazon seeking directions to order enforcement of the award by Singapore’s Emergency Arbitrator (EA) restraining Future Retail from going ahead with its Rs 24,713 crore deal with Reliance Retail.

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