Punit Goenka, the managing director and CEO of Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL), has settled with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) a case of an alleged violation of insider trading norms after paying Rs 50.7 lakh towards the settlement fee.

The settlement came after Goenka proposed to the capital market regulator to settle the proceedings “without admitting or denying the findings” through a settlement order.

“It is hereby ordered that the instant proceedings initiated against the applicant vide show cause notice (SCN) dated December 22, 2022, are disposed of,” SEBI said in its five page settlement order.

The regulator, in its investigation, found that Goenka allegedly failed to put in place adequate internal controls within the company to identify unpublished price-sensitive information (UPSI) and failed to identify the information pertaining to the launch of Cinema 2 Home Service, ZEEPLEX, as UPSI. By doing so, he allegedly violated the provisions of insider trading rules.

SEBI’s current rules that the CEO, Managing Director or such other ``analogous person of a listed company, intermediary or fiduciary shall put in place adequate and effective system of internal controls’’ to prevent insider trading.

The internal controls includes all employees who have access to UPSI and they will be identified as designated person.