Probe report comes to light today
The investigation committee on share market debacle will submit its report to the finance minister today.
The four-member committee, headed by Krishi Bank Chairman Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled, completed the report yesterday.
Sources said the committee is likely to make a 30-point recommendations including formation of a long-term task force and reforming the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Other members of the committee are Director General of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management Toufic A Choudhury, former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh Mohammad Abdul Bari and Supreme Court advocate Nihad Kabir.
The committee, formed on January 25, was given 3 months to prepare the report. It, however, finished the report nearly a month before the deadline ends.
The government formed the committee following massive falls in share prices for days in a row prompting thousands of small investors to take to the streets in protest.
The probe body was given 11 tasks including finding out if any individual or groups had influenced the market or taken any undue advantages.
The committee also tried to determine what types of irregularities occurred in both primary and secondary market.
It collected information on who purchased shares when the prices were rising in the secondary market, and who sold those when the prices started to fall.
According to Terms of Reference (TOR), the committee would find the reasons behind the overpricing of shares over the last two years. It would also identify the people and the institutions that withdrew unusually high amount of money taking advantage of the overpriced market through direct listing, book building and fixed price.
The roles of issue managers, regulatory body, audit firms and asset-valuation companies have also been looked into.
The committee detected various irregularities in direct listings, private placements and book building system.
The number of Beneficiary Owners (BO) account in the stockmarket is about 32 lakh. However, the committee found that there was no transaction in 10 lakh BO accounts and there were a few transactions in another 10 lakh accounts.
Multiple accounts in the name of one person were also found.
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