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Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has imposed a penalty of Rs1.80 crore on Talwalkars Better Value Fitness Ltd (TBVFL) and the company's top executives, including two chairpersons, for misrepresenting the financial statements and failing to make true and adequate disclosures.
In a separate order, SEBI also slapped a penalty of Rs66 lakh on Talwalkars HealthClubs Ltd (THL) and the company's four executive directors (EDs) and chief financial officer (CFO). Besides TBVFL and THL, others who have been penalised by SEBI include Girish Talwalkar, Prashant Talwalkar, Madhukar Talwalkar, Vinayak Gawande, Anant Gawande, Harsha Bhatkal (all executive directors) and Girish Nayak (chief financial officer-CFO). All the six EDs and the CFO are also barred from markets for 18 months.
After hearing all parties, the SEBI ED observed that the pith and substance of the Talwalkars' submissions was that they were not responsible for managing affairs in banking, financial and legal matters and the Gawandes had defrauded them. Basically, the Talwalkars, in their replies, while putting the entire onus on the Gawandes, have denied all the allegations against them. Further, in their submissions, they have only made generic statements unrelated to the allegations contained in the SCN and have not provided any specific response on the merits of the allegations levelled against them in the SCN, he says.
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