KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday cancelled the trading rights entitlement (TRE) certificate of defaulting stock brokerage AWJ Securities Private Ltd.

The PSX board which met on Monday made the announcement late in the evening. It directed all TRE certificate holders of the PSX and investors/clients of AWJ to submit their claims arising out of the transactions made subject to the regulation of the PSX against the AWJ with the regulatory affairs division. The last date for the submission of claims has been set for March 29.

Last week, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) hauled up AWJ director Hassan Waheed on corruption charges and depriving the public of some Rs260 million while selling and purchasing shares on the stock exchange.

NAB moved to arrest the director after the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan filed a complaint that the AWJ Securities’ director had defrauded the public.

“All market participants are hereby informed that due to re­­peated failure of AWJ Securities Private Ltd to resolve increasing number of complaints and no progress witnessed despite a lapse of considerable time”, the exchange followed the due process and placed the matter before the PSX board in its meeting on Monday, the bourse said in a statement.

The board decided to cancel the TRE certificate of AWJ with immediate effect under clause 20.1.1 of PSX regulations.

“The forfeiture of TRE certificate of AWJ does not affect the rights of its creditors and clients in any manner and AWJ remains responsible for discharging all its financial obligations,” PSX clarified.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2017