14 cases to be probed further
The government yesterday said it will further investigate a series of allegations raised by a probe committee in its report on the recent share market scam.
“In many cases, the probe committee has recommended further investigation. The government is taking steps in this regard,” Finance Minister AMA Muhith said at a press briefing while unveiling the probe report officially.
The government accepted 14 recommendations made by the probe committee on further investigation.
The first would be on placement as the government indicated further inquiry into top 30 individual placement holders and their source of finance. The “placement guidelines” would be formulated after discussing with civil society members, people's representatives and researchers.
The second one would be on reviewing the role of traders who were the major players in soaring stock prices.
A five-member committee, comprising chartered accountants, would be formed to probe the assets valuation of Libra Infusions, Sonali Aansh Industries, Rahim Textile, BD-Thai Aluminium, Orion Infusion, Ocean Containers, Shinepukur Ceramics and Eastern Insurance. If any wrong-doing is found, the government will take punitive measures.
The government will also conduct further investigation and take action through the Securities and Exchange Commission against people involved in serial trading and manipulation.
The fifth one would be the issuance of right share and preference share. However, the actions on these issues would be taken after restructuring the SEC, as the regulator's decision on right share and preference share were immoral and questionable. The government also favoured a three-year lock-in on conversion or transfer of right share.
The government said the SEC will examine all the omnibus accounts and take steps to convert those into individual BO accounts.
The SEC, after restructure, can investigate further into Tk 19 crore worth share allotment against 19 persons with only two mailing addresses, and also into the huge placement against Ahsan Imam and others.
The restructured SEC will take actions after a further inquiry into the case studies, conducted by the share market probe committee. The BD-Thai and GEM Global issue can be transferred to CID for further investigation, while the KPCL issue can be investigated by a joint taskforce comprised of the SEC, Bangladesh Bank and National Board of Revenue.
The government said the SEC also can investigate the KYC of investors who were the top sellers during December 2010 and January 2011.
A further investigation would also be launched into the role of the stock exchanges, lack of coordination between the bourses and the SEC, leadership by the politically influential persons, not delisting the companies shut down and delaying in demutualising the stock exchanges.
The SEC should investigate further the top 50 companies prices of which were overvalued in 2009 and 2010. The companies include Chittagong Vegetable, Beach Hatchery, Aftab Automobile, Safko Spinning, Orion Infusion, Padma Cement, Bextex, CMC Kamal, BD Welding and Singer BD.
A further investigation into share business by Abdus Salam is needed after the restructure of the SEC, the government said.
Finally, the government said, stock business by Shamima Sharif is also doubtful and the SEC and the Bangladesh Bank can investigate it.
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