India's income tax (IT) department has began search operations at the premises of former National Stock Exchange (NSE) MD and CEO Chitra Ramkrishna and former group COO Anand Subramanian as part of a wider probe on tax evasion after a final order by SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) alleging “a glaring conspiracy of a money-making scheme”.
A team of officials from the I-T investigation wing in Mumbai and Chennai carried out the searches and further probe is on with questioning of several people under way. The searches came close on the heels of the action by SEBI, with its final order pointing to “grave irregularities and misconduct” by Chitra in the appointment of Subramanian and his redesignation as “group chief operating officer” at the country’s largest exchange and also sharing of internal and confidential
information.
While Ramkrishna was a long-time employee, Chitra was MD & CEO from April 2013 to December 2016, when she resigned. SEBI's observation around a conspiracy of a “money-making scheme” has also raised an alert. While a pecuniary benefit has not been established so far, the observation is being examined in detail.
SEBI in its final order last week had fined Chitra of £300,000 and Subramanian of £200,000 and
banned them from the market for three years. The case has triggered an uproar over failure of
corporate governance in the country’s largest bourse.
