LAHORE, Aug 27: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) on Wednesday requested the Lahore High Court to refer the fraud cases filed against illegally formed foreign exchange companies to the NAB.

The court issued notice to the federal government for Thursday (today) on this application in which the court was further requested to penalize these companies’ directors on criminal charges.

The SECP argued that the offence committed by the directors did fall under the NAB purview and its authorities should be entrusted with the task of trying them on corruption charges in the accountability courts.

So far, the LHC has placed the names of eight private limited companies’ directors on the exit control list for having carried out the illegal brokerage business. These companies include Bulls and Bears, World Business Consultants, United Brokerage Consultants, Forex International Securities, Trade Station Securities, Rauf International, Harvest International and Pindex Limited.

It has been alleged by the SECP that these companies have been carrying out the foreign exchange business without obtaining prior approval of both the SECP and the State Bank of Pakistan. The directors had not obtained the licence from the SECP for carrying out the business. Under the prevalent provisions, no company engaged in foreign exchange business could charge its clients more than 20 per cent of its paidup capital but in the present case, the directors had exceeded this limit.

notification: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday refused to suspend in limine the operation of local government secretary’s notification through which Mandi Bahauhdin District Nazim Nazar Abbas Gondal had been debarred from holding his office following the adoption of a no-confidence motion against him.

Justice Saeed Akhtar observed that court couldn’t suspend the notification at the preliminary stage without hearing the Punjab Advocate-General’s viewpoint which was mandatory under Article 199(4) of the 1973 Constitution.

The AG was issued notice for Sept 3, following court’s denial to grant the stay in his absence.

Nazar Abbas Gondal argued in his petition that the no-confidence motion was adopted by the dissident members without serving a prior notice on him and the requirement mandatory for moving this motion were not fulfilled.

He submitted that the local government secretary was not authorized to issue the notification ahead of Punjab Local Election Authority’s notification to debar him from holding his office.