Zee CEO Punit Goenka pays Rs 50 lakh to settle insider trading case

As cinema halls were locked during the pandemic, Zee launched a new streaming service ZEEPLEX in September 2020, for filmmakers to release movies online. But before it turned Indian living rooms into movie theatres, information about the launch was leaked from Zee's corridors to be used for buying stocks in time to mint profits.

Years after the insider trading scandal hit a debt-ridden Zee, the firm's CEO Punit Goenka has paid Rs 50.70 lakh to settle the case.

Multiple players pulled up

• Goenka's move comes weeks after three including a former Zee employee were slapped with a Rs 90 lakh penalty in the same case.

• Market regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had passed an order for violations of its norms against 15 entities in the matter.

• It observed that Zee didn't consider plans of ZEEPLEX launch as Unpublished Price Sensitive Information (UPSI), while it did fall in that category.

Goenka guilty of lapses?

• The CEO was pulled up for failure to ensure internal controls required to prevent the leakage of such information.

• He was slapped with a show cause notice asking why he shouldn't face action for lapses at the firm and failure to identify the information as UPSI.

• The settlement by Goenka comes as Zee is working on a merger with rival Sony to form a media behemoth in India.