Task force fails to submit report: Stock market scam
By Our Reporter
ISLAMABAD, May 16: The five-member task force constituted to investigate and identify the factors that led to the recent stock market crash has failed to submit its report to the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) within the deadline. Formed on March 30, following the directives of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz - who wanted “to get to the bottom” of the stock market crisis - the task force has failed to submit its findings to the commission on Sunday.
The small investors who have suffered huge losses are restless to see the outcome of the somewhat prolonged investigation and that was why dozens of telephone calls were received by the SECP office here on Monday from the people inquiring about the progress on the issue.
But no one in the SECP is willing to talk to either the people or newsmen. Sources told Dawn that the task force was facing severe pressure from the big fish involved in $12 billion stock market crisis. The task force was encountering numerous hurdles in inching forward towards the net of some well-known brokers and their supporters in the government and corporate sector, they said.
They said the body had failed to fix responsibility on anyone. The issue of fixing responsibility was the main reason for delay and on the same issue the members of the task force also seemed divided, they said.
SECP Chairman Dr Tariq Hassan had told a press conference on March 30 that the task force headed by Justice (Retd) Saleem Akhtar would complete its report within a month and would work independently parallel to the SECP team already busy in inspecting brokers and investigating insiders trading, market abuses and manipulation.
However, the affected people, and in fact the whole nation, are looking forward to any development from any corner. The affected investors are much frustrated and don’t see any light in the end of the tunnel because in the ongoing process of investigation any say from the investors is completely absent.
Investors who have sent complaints to the SECP regarding the stock market crash have now started complaining against the very commission, which they blame for failing to protect the small investors and ensure transparency in stock market dealings.
They are of the opinion that the corporate sector regulator was not in a mood to hear to their grievances and probe the allegations they had made against some brokers. The issue of the market is never going to subside despite the attempts of the SECP and of course the management of the stock exchanges. A number of politicians have already pointed fingers towards the involvement of some big names in one of the country’s worst scandals.
While, talking to newsmen on Sunday, former Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali also alleged that “five” people had taken great benefit from the stock market crash and that he would soon tell their names to President Pervez Musharraf.
