'Sebi's data collection was part of a court approved search and seizure operation' Quant MF writes to investors

Quant Mutual Fund on Saturday informed its investors that the Sebi's data collection was not in the nature of routine inquiry but was part of a court-approved search-and-seizure operation. On July 13, the mutual fund house issued an email to its investors.

In the latest email, the mutual fund house said: "This has reference to question 1 of the FAQs in the trailing email. We have been receiving further queries in this regard. We would like to clarify that the data collected by the regulator was not part of any regular process but was part of a court approved search and seizure operation with respect to an ongoing investigation initiated by SEBI,” the fund house said.

In the FAQs Corrigendum on July 13, one of the questions was ‘Has anyone been convicted?’. Responding to this, Quant MF said, “No. It is the regulator’s job to collect and analyse data on an ongoing basis. We have not received any communication after initial enquiries.”

Markets regulator Sebi conducted search and seizure operations in a suspected case of front-running at offices of Quant Mutual Fund. After the search operation, the fund house had issued a statement saying that it is cooperating with the regulator. 

"Recently, quant Mutual Fund has received inquiries from SEBI, and we want to address any concerns you may have regarding this matter. We want to assure you that Quant Mutual Fund is a regulated entity, and we are always fully committed to cooperate with the regulator throughout any review. We will provide all necessary support and continue to furnish data to SEBI on a regular and as-needed basis," Quant said in a note to clients.

On Friday, Quant Mutual Fund announced that its Chief Financial Officer Harshal Patel has resigned and new CFO, Shashi Kataria, has joined. The fund clarified that this reorganisation took place on February 19, prior to the Sebi action in June.

“Mr Shashi Kataria has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer, Operations Head and Executive Director of Quant Money Managers Limited with effect from July 01, 2024, in place of Mr. Harshal Patel who has resigned due to his personal reasons,” said Quant Mutual Fund.