ISLAMABAD, Aug 8: Several treasury and opposition members have requisitioned a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue to discuss the May-June 2006 crisis in Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) and the terms of reference of the ongoing forensic investigation into the March 2005 crash.
MNAs Sardar Ayaz Tariq, Khalid Iqbal Memon, Sardar Tufail and Kashmala Tariq had submitted the requisition a week ago.
While as per rules, a meeting has to be arranged within 14 days of the submission of requisition, no date has been fixed for the meeting yet.
“We want to know the terms of reference of the forensic investigations. We also want the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to bring before the standing committee audit reports of the (shares) accounts of all high-profile brokers (whose names are mentioned in the taskforce report on the stock market crash) being prepared by the US investigators,” MNA Sardar Ayaz Tariq told Dawn on Tuesday.
He said SECP’s current and former chairmen would be asked to appear before the standing committee so as to get a clear picture of where the probe was heading. The probe had started on July 17.
A ruling party MNA, requesting anonymity, said: “This time the meeting would also focus on the issue of the May-June 2006 market crash. We know that the government is reluctant to take up the issue of the latest crash.”
He said all the members of the standing committee were curious to know the real reasons behind the recent crisis. Apparently, the market crashed due to the same reasons that brought the market tumbling down last year.
