ISLAMABAD, June 3: The treasury members’ bid to brush under the carpet the issue of alleged disappearance of data of bids and offers of shares from the computer records of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SECP) is likely to affect the probe of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance on the March 2005 stock market crash.

The standing committee has now constituted a sub-committee to prepare a report on the scam and send it to parliament for debate. Sources said the treasury members in the committee wanted to hush up the matter as the elections were approaching and the issue could damage the government’s credibility, while the opposition wanted those involved in the scandal to be identified.

With the exception of PML MNA Kashmala Tariq, who is making every effort to take the probe to fruitful conclusion, the past two meetings of the committee have presented a picture of the National Assembly’s proceedings with the treasury and opposition members failing to reach consensus.

On several occasions, the committee’s chairman and a majority of the ruling party members have openly suggested that the chapter be closed.

The sources told Dawn that a majority of the treasury members of the committee were not interested in benefiting from the offer of Dr Tariq Hassan, former chairman of the SECP to enable it to have access to data of offers and bids of shares of some top brokers at the time of the crash.

Dr Hassan had alleged that the data was available with the SECP when he was its chairman. He alleged that the data was deleted after his removal from the post but he could provide it from his own sources.

The absence of the data restrained US firm Diligence from reaching any conclusion in its $1 million forensic probe.

In a statement submitted to the standing committee on the report of the US investigators, Dr Hassan said: “The big brokers are celebrating their innocence across the print and electronic media.

However, there protestation of innocence, like the protestation of innocence made by President Nixon in the Watergate scandal, could merely hide a dark truth.

The big brokers with their long arms and deep pockets have perpetuated a financial scam of monumental proportions. Their tentacles not only envelop the stock exchanges but also penetrate the most hallowed halls of power. The American Watergate of the early 1970’s seems to pale before the Pakistani Brokersgate of 2005.”