With the market regulator and investigative agencies on an overdrive against corruption in the asset management industry, market chatter is that accommodation deals between operators/promoters and crooked fund managers have reduced significantly. Besides, there are enough disgruntled junior employees at fund houses, or small broking firms resentful of the high handed behaviour of mutual fund dealers/fund managers, willing to blow the whistle on shady practices. While SEBI and other agencies are probing the front running angle, industry insiders say the relatively uncomplicated ‘cash deals’ are more common, in which operators apparently offload their long positions to fund houses at inflated prices, or the fund houses allegedly buy large blocks of shares from the benaami holdings of promoters.
