The Enforcement Directorate has issued a Rs 466-crore FEMA show cause notice to Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, former finance minister Thomas Issac, and the CM's chief principal secretary K M Abraham in the KIIFB Masala Bond case.
Abraham, a 1982 Kerala cadre IAS officer, investigated Sahara during his tenure as whole-time member at Sebi.
In his order, SEBI member dealt with the "fit and proper" criteria of the exchange promoted by Financial Technologies (FT) and Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) and their founder Jignesh Shah.
'It is not impossible that there will be some arrangement with the Congress in West Bengal after the ongoing local body polls.'
Replying to a PTI request for the letters under the Right to Information Act, the Prime Minister's Office cited a clause that bars disclosure of any information that 'would lead to unwarranted intrusion of the privacy of the individual'.
Sebi whole-time members M S Sahoo and K M Abraham will both retire in July. While Sahoo's three-year tenure will end on July 13, Abraham will retire on July 21.
While there are still some months left before two of the three members retire, the industry is already abuzz with talk that they might get an extension.
Likely to select from 3 shortlisted; follows Sanjeev Kaushik's refusal to take the job if made to retire from IAS
The decision to quiz Sinha, as also former Sebi Chairman M Damodaran, was taken after examination of another former Sebi chief C B Bhave earlier this month, during which the agency sleuths were told that public interest was involved in grant of licence to MCX-SX to trade in currency derivatives.
Union minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday attacked the Central Bureau of Investigation for initiating preliminary enquiry against ex-SEBI chairman C B Bhave and ex-member K M Abraham on the issue of granting sanction to MCX Stock Exchange, and alleged that "larger forces" were working to fix them.
The resignation came hours ahead of a scheduled board meeting of MCX-SX, where former LIC Chairman Thomas Mathew T has taken over as new Chairman.
Earlier this month, the CBI registered a Preliminary Enquiry against former Sebi Chairman C B Bhave and ex-member K M Abraham, as also against Jignesh Shah-founded FTIL and MCX, among others.
Under U K Sinha, Sebi became a pan-India organisation with local offices in 16 cities
MCX-SX on Friday said the rights issue would now close on April 17.
According to a senior CBI official, the agency has evidence to suggest the finance ministry's recommendations were overlooked while giving a licence to MCX-SX in 2008.
Though the agency did not include former Sebi chief CB Bhave and ex-member KM Abraham in the case, it recommended departmental action against the two.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will soon quiz Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman U K Sinha as well as former head of the regulatory body M Damodaran in connection with a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) to probe granting sanction to Jignesh Shah-founded Financial Technologies (India) and MCX-SX.
Case relates to alleged irregularities in '08 sanction to MCX-SX; Shah grilled in NSEL case.
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