Suspect sues over Bangladesh stock market scam report

Dhaka: A key suspect in Bangladesh's recent stock market scam served a legal notice on the probe panel and filed an appeal with a court seeking to scrap parts of the probe report that alleged the company siphoned off 150 million taka (Dh7.55 million).

Bangladesh Thai Aluminium Limited (BD-Thai) on Sunday filed a civil suit with a Dhaka court against the investigation committee's chief, Khandkar Ebrahim Khalid, and other members of the panel seeking an order setting aside parts of the report implicating the enterprise.

Apology demanded

The company, owned by an influential ruling party lawmaker, also served legal notice on Khalid and other members of the body demanding an apology and seeking damages of 1 billion taka for making "false" and "fabricated" statements about the company.

Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Court asked Khalid, also chairman of the state-owned Bangladesh Krishi Bank, and other members of the probe body to submit their explanations by June 12 after personal appearance.

Ten-week investigation

The four-member high-power committee submitted the report to the government earlier this month after 10 weeks' investigation into Bangladesh's stock exchange scandal indicating heavy manipulation.

Several newspapers earlier carried detailed reports on the findings of the committee while Khalid at that time said, "All the institutions that have anything to do with the stock market were responsible for the debacle."

Evidence claim

He added that their investigations also found that around 150 million taka was siphoned off the country during the stock crash, where the BD-Thai also had a major stake.

BD-Thai is one of the largest manufacturers of anodised and powder-coated aluminium profiles, doors, windows, and curtain walls and allied items in Bangladesh. Its shares traded at 875 taka, down by 3.07 per cent, on Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday.

The BD-Thai in its civil suit and legal notice quoted Khalid's comments to the media saying that evidence was found that Zem Global, a US stock company, in collusion with BD-Thai had laundered or siphoned off money earned illegally from the stock market.

Remarks 'confusing'

The company alleged that his comments were "untrue, derogatory, confusing", and his remarks damaged the company's "social and financial standings".

A former Bangladesh Bank deputy governor and currently chairman of the state-run Krishi Bank, Khalid said bad decisions of the Securities and Exchange Commissioner, Bangladesh's stock market regulator, and the central bank also were largely responsible for the crash.

‘Not enough time'

Finance Minister A.M.A. Muhith earlier said the inquiry report would be made public but initially no name of individuals would be published as the probe committee "did not get enough time to go into the details".

The minister, however, acknowledged that the committee named some people after getting "some indications" about their role in creating the crisis.

Bangladesh's stock market was closed for several days in December last year and January this year following the crash that caused massive losses for millions of small investors as the benchmark Dhaka Stock Exchange general index (DGEN) fell nearly 1,800 points.

The stocks, however, apparently defied the investigation report yesterday with the main Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) up more than 1 per cent, closing the week on a high note as the investors were visibly undeterred by the findings.

But experts and analysts demanded exposing of the "culprits" to justice saying the government must take specific actions against the people who manipulated the market.