Journalist among 230 barred by SEBI for ‘forgery’ to rig stock

Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India today passed an
interim order barring two promoters of publicly listed entertainment
company Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd, and 228 others, for allegedly
forging a letter and passing it off as a Sebi order in December 2008
to manipulate the company’s stock resulting in substantial losses to
investors.

Key to the alleged conspiracy, according to today’s Sebi order, is the
forged letter asking one of the promoters P S Saminathan, chairman and
managing director of Pyramid Saimira, to make an open offer for an
additional 20 per cent stake at a price not less than Rs 250. The
order says that the other promoter Nirmal Kotecha had sold over 15
lakh shares on Monday, December 22, the day some newspapers published
a story based on the forged letter.

In its order, Sebi said that Rakesh Sharma, then an executive with
public relations firm Adfactors PR Pvt Ltd and Rajesh Unnikrishnan,
Assistant Editor, The Economic Times, a business daily belonging to
the Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd, “played a key role in the forgery,
dissemination of information and misleading the media to believe its
authenticity.”

Kotecha, the order says, even propped up an “imposter” who posed as
Company Secretary and “confirmed” the forged letter to reporters who
called up to check.

When asked for his comment, Rahul Joshi, Executive Editor, The
Economic Times, said: “We have seen the order. We are studying it.”

According to the Sebi order, tower location of mobile telephones used
by Sharma, Kotecha (registered in the name of one Amol Kokane) and
Unnikrishnan indicated the three met on December 20, around the time
when the forged letter was circulated to the media. Sharma, whose
service was terminated by the PR firm the very next day (Tuesday,
December 23), had in a statement to Sebi which he later retracted,
also admitted that Unnikrishnan and he went to Kotecha’s residence to
mail the forged letter to “media friends.”

Once the market regulator issued a press statement that it had not
issued any such letter on December 23, Sharma was terminated from his
service by the PR firm, which never had Pyramid as a client.

The other significant part of the plot, the order said, was the
attempt to ensure by the trio to not just disseminate the forged
letter to the media, but also make the media believe its authenticity.
Sharma, who has been a business journalist earlier, used the services
of two former journalists Dheer Kothari and Ashok Jainani to spread
the information, Sebi said.

When a reporter sought to ascertain the veracity of the information in
the forged letter, Kotecha sent the number of one Ganesan working in
the company’s Chennai office to Sharma by SMS. When the reporter got
back stating that the contents were denied by Ganesan, Kotecha
provided another telephone number, purportedly of Pyramid Saimira’s
Company Secretary Kanhucharan Sahu to Sharma, the order said based on
the latter’s statement to Sebi.

Unnikrishnan too provided the contact details to Sharma, the order
said. When reporters called this number, the person, one Pratheesh
Kumar V.K. — an imposter, according to the order — confirmed that the
company had received the letter.

The question many Wall Streeters are asking is just how Goldman once again snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Many point to Goldman’s expert manipulation of the levers of power in Washington. Since Robert Rubin, its former chairman, joined the Clinton administration in 1993, first as the director of the National Economic Council and then as Treasury secretary, the firm has come to be known, as a headline in this newspaper last October put it, as “Government Sachs.”

How can one ignore, the conspiracy-minded say, the crucial role that Henry Paulson, who followed Mr. Rubin to the top at both Goldman and Treasury, played in the decisions to shutter Bear Stearns, to force Lehman Brothers to file for bankruptcy and to insist that Bank of America buy Merrill Lynch at an inflated price? David Viniar, Goldman’s chief financial officer, acknowledged in a conference call yesterday the important role the changed competitive landscape had on Goldman’s unexpected first-quarter profit of $1.8 billion: “Many of our traditional competitors have retreated from the marketplace, either due to financial distress, mergers or shift in strategic priorities.”

But he was largely mum on American International Group, which, Goldman’s critics insist, is the canvas upon which the bank and its alumni have painted their great masterpiece of self-interest. A few days after Mr. Paulson refused to save Lehman Brothers last September — at a cost of a mere $45 billion or so — he came to A.I.G.’s rescue, to the tune of $170 billion and rising. Then he decided to install Edward Liddy — a former Goldman Sachs board member — as A.I.G.’s chief executive. Goldman has since received some $13 billion in cash, collateral and other payouts from A.I.G. — that is, from taxpayers.

Why kill Lehman and save A.I.G.? The theory, we now know, was that the government felt it needed to save the firms, including Goldman Sachs, that had insured many of their risky ventures through the insurer. Indeed, had Mr. Paulson decided not to save A.I.G., its counterparties would have suffered serious losses. Lehman’s creditors will be lucky to get back pennies on the dollar.

In a conference call he held last month, Mr. Viniar made the shocking claim that Goldman “had no material exposure to A.I.G.” because the firm had “collateral and market hedges in order to protect ourselves.” If so, then why did Goldman need the government’s help in the first place? During yesterday’s conference call, Guy Moszkowski, an analyst from Merrill Lynch, asked Mr. Viniar what role the $13 billion Goldman has collected from A.I.G. had on its first-quarter showing. But Mr. Viniar would have none of it: Profits “related to A.I.G. in the first quarter rounded to zero.” Hmm, how then did Goldman make so much money if that multibillion-dollar gift from you and me had nothing to do with it?

Part of the answer lies in a little sleight of hand. One consequence of Goldman’s becoming a bank holding company last year was that it had to switch its fiscal year to the calendar year. Previously, Goldman’s fiscal year had ended on Nov. 30. Now it ends Dec. 31.

As a result, December 2008 was not included in Goldman’s rosy first-quarter 2009 numbers. In that month, Goldman lost a little more than $1 billion, after a $1 billion writedown related to “non-investment-grade credit origination activities” and a further $625 million related to commercial real estate loans and securities. All told, in the last seven months, Goldman has lost $1.5 billion. But that number didn’t come up on Monday. How convenient.

Which leaves us with the real reason Goldman has cleaned up this year: the huge misfortunes of its major competitors. Those other firms have disappeared or have become severely wounded, and as a result have more or less been sitting on their collective hands since the collapse of Lehman last September.

As part of its busy day on Monday, Goldman also announced it was raising $5 billion of equity capital and that it intended to pay back the $10 billion from the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program that Mr. Paulson forced on the bank last October. Being free of the TARP yoke will give Goldman yet another competitive advantage: the ability to pay its own top talent and new recruits whatever it wants without government scrutiny.

This is significant, since it is unlikely any of Goldman’s remaining competitors will be able to make a similar move anytime soon. There is a reason Bill Gates once said Microsoft’s biggest competitor was Goldman Sachs. “It’s all about I.Q.,” Mr. Gates said. “You win with I.Q. Our only competition for I.Q. is the top investment banks.” And then there was one.

William D. Cohan, a contributing editor at Fortune, is the author of “House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street.”

(Courtesy: By WILLIAM D. COHAN, Published: April 14, 2009 The New York Times)

Professor began his class by holding up a glass with some water in it. He held it up for all to see & asked the students
“How much do you think this glass weighs?”

’50gms!’ ….. ’100gms!’ …..’125gms’ …the students answered.

.

“I really don’t know unless I weigh it,” said the professor, “but, my question is:

What would happen if I held it up like this for a few minutes?”

‘Nothing’ …..the students said.

‘Ok what would happen if I held it up like this for an hour?’ the professor asked.

‘Your arm would begin to ache’ said one of the student

“You’re right, now what would happen if I held it for a day?”

“Your arm could go numb, you might have severe muscle stress & paralysis & have to go to hospital for sure!”
….. ventured another student & all the students laughed

“Very good.

But during all this, did the weight of the glass change?”
asked the professor.

‘No’…. Was the answer.

“Then what caused the arm ache & the muscle stress?”

The students were puzzled.

“What should I do now to come out of pain?” asked professor again.

“Put the glass down!” said one of the students

“Exactly!” said the professor.

Life’s problems are something like this.
Hold it for a few minutes in your head & they seem OK.

Think of them for a long time & they begin to ache.
Hold it even longer & they begin to paralyze you. You will not be able to do anything.

It’s important to think of the challenges or problems in your life,
But EVEN MORE IMPORTANT is to ‘PUT THEM DOWN’ at the end of every day before You go to sleep..

That way, you are not stressed, you wake up every day fresh &strong & can handle any issue, any challenge that comes your way!

So, when you leave office today,
Remember friend to
‘PUT THE GLASS DOWN TODAY! ‘

Yes, it is none other than our dirty media which has sprinkled its dirt on the Indian Governance, by making every shit thing sensational and converted into money. All they are concerned about is their turnover and luring as much viewers as possible. Many times we have seen stiff competition among the channels. The winner will be who has spread large amount of shit.

They show sadness, sorrow and emotion on their face (which you all would have seen in 26/11 attack coverage) but the underlying intention is only to retain the viewers on their channels, otherwise they would not have given break for commercials.

Even if he is known to be a corrupt politician, if the channel likes him, he will be given much needed publicity after all he throws them money. Those who don’t indulge in corruption will naturally not give away money and gifts; they are all cursed and will not be favored by these dirty media.

So media is only brainwashing Indian Public, make sure that Indians don’t apply their well conceived thought and vote for the one favored by the media. Indian people will finally get confused and revisit their opinion and end up going with Media’s opinion. Even before poll comes, Media, somehow, knows which party will get how many seats. God only can dispute this. It is only to create a myth in Indian people’s mind to vote for the one whom they have projected as emerging winner.

We all should strongly condemn Media’s such ridiculous behavior and go by our own senses. Simply speaking, Media shit cares for the Indian Public, Economy and Constitution. Media is misguiding the public and thereby causing deterioration and slow death of Indian Economy.

But for this behavior of Media and if they played a neutral role India would have achieved its growth 10 years back.