3 fraudsters indicted
A Dhaka court yesterday indicted three individual investors in a case filed against them for their alleged involvement in last year's share market scam that left thousands of small investors penniless.
They are Syed Sirajuddoula, his wife Rasheda Akhter Maya and Habibur Rahman Morol.
This is one of the two cases so far filed upon instructions of the finance ministry following recommendations by the government's investigation committee to legal action against the stock market manipulators.
Judge Mohammad Aminul Haque of the First Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court also set May 15 for starting trial against the trio.
The case states that Sirajuddoula, Maya and Rahman were involved in artificial active trading through bulk transactions in shares of Peoples Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (PLFSL).
They bought a huge quantity of PLFSL shares and sold them at the same time, causing the company's share prices jump high. With this, the accused pocketed a huge amount of money illegally.
Earlier in the day, the court rejected their bails and issued arrest warrants against them, as the accused were absent from the court without taking any steps about their non-appearance.
The court ordered their arrest following an application submitted by Special Public Prosecutor Rezaul Karim.
Mahbuber Rahman Chaudhury, director of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), lodged the case with Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court on August 21, 2011.
The probe body, headed by Bangladesh Krishi Bank Chairman Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled, in its report said retail investors lost at least Tk 20,000 crore to some dishonest traders, who were in a deep collusion with stockmarket regulators.
Many of them could be tried under the existing laws of the SEC, the report said, suggesting detailed investigations before putting them on trial.
The collapse during January-February last year was unavoidable following abnormal rise in share prices up to December 2010. The benchmark index of Dhaka Stock Exchange rose to its highest ever level at 8,918 points on December 5.
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