SEBI Confirms Market Ban on Rajesh Exports for Hiding Facts

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has confirmed its interim directions restraining Rajesh Mehta, chairman of Rajesh Exports Limited (REL), from buying, selling or dealing in the securities of the company until further orders [SEBI v. Rajesh Exports & Anr.]In a confirmatory order passed on Wednesday, SEBI Whole Time Member (WTM) Kamlesh C Varshney upheld directions mandating the listed gold refiner and its promoter to cooperate with an ongoing forensic audit and submit true and complete disclosures.The market regulator had intervened after allegations of extensive financial misstatement, unverified transactions and corporate governance failures cropped up.SEBI noted that while REL reported consolidated revenues exceeding ₹15 lakh crore between FY21 and FY25, its Swiss operating subsidiary, Valcambi SA, recorded standalone revenues of just ₹3,027.38 crore. The unexplained disparity was nearly 99%. SEBI also flagged an unverifiable ₹1,035.27 crore investment in gold mines in Africa and the improper netting-off of ₹2,914 crore in overdue trade receivables.A central focus of the order was the routine diversion and routing of company funds through the personal bank accounts of Rajesh Mehta and his son Siddharth Mehta. SEBI rejected the defence that Mehta was acting purely as an authorised commercial conduit.“The physical transit of corporate funds into a director’s private account alters the legal character of those public funds into an unauthorized financ