Sebi wants to use call records as evidence in insider trading cases

Market regulator Sebi said it has sought an approval from the government to use telephone call records as evidence in the insider trading cases. “We have asked for government’s approval to use call-data record for determining insider trading that are taking place in the market,” Sebi chairman U K Sinha told reporters on the sidelines of CII summit on mutual funds here today.

The issue of using call data record has again cropped up at a time when former head of McKinsey and Goldman Sachs board member Rajat Gupta has been convicted in insider trading case in the US on the basis of wire tapping evidence. Sinha said personally he is not comfortable with the idea of wire-tapping, but Sebi has sought nod for accessing phone data records which can help in establishing relationships among various parties involved in insider trading.

While wire-tapping enables monitoring of telephone or Internet conversation, call data records only show the calls made by the alleged party. The market regulator is asking for this approval for quite some time. Earlier in the day, Sebi said it will not settle serious offenses including insider trading by consent process. Consent process is a settlement of proceedings between Sebi and alleged violator without admission or denial of the guilt, subject to a fine and also a voluntary ban in some cases.

PTI