Arrested NSEL former chief says Jignesh Shah was aware of fraud

The former chief executive of Indian commodities bourse National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) was arrested on Thursday, a senior police official said, without specifying whether any charges were being pressed against him.

NSEL's former managing director and CEO Anjani Sinha was removed from his position by the bourse's board in August amid regulatory scrutiny after the bourse abruptly stopped payments to settle outstanding trades to investors.

[caption id="attachment_1074773" align="alignright" width="380"] Brokers monitor share prices while trading at a brokerage firm in Mumbai. Reuters[/caption]

The Mumbai police's additional commissioner in charge of the economic offences wing (EOW), Rajvardhan Sinha, said by telephone that Anjani Sinha had been arrested, but declined to provide further details.

According to an Economic Times report, hours before Sinha was arrested, he had told the Mumbai police, that the board, comprising Jignesh Shah and Joseph Massey, was aware of the goings on at the exchange.

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Earlier, Sinha had said that the boardwas not aware of the fraud being perpetrated on the bourse.

Messey, Shah and other board members are likely to be questioned in light of this fresh statement.

NSEL, owned by Financial Technologies (India) Ltd, has been under investigation by the EOW since last month after India's commodities regulator ordered it to suspend trading over suspected violations of rules on contract duration.

NSEL has said it followed all existing rules.

Since the trading suspension, NSEL has struggled to settle outstanding contracts worth more than 55 billion rupees.

Anjani Sinha could not immediately be reached.

A spokesman for NSEL and Financial Technologies declined to comment.

Reuters