Senior leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Sunday alleged that a syndicate of top officials of the Prime Minister's Office, finance ministry, Bangladesh Bank and the Securities and Exchange Commission plundered crores of takas from investors in the country's share market.
They said that the recent stock market manipulation was a state-run operation.
They made the allegations at a seminar styled 'Share Market Scam and Interest of Small Investors', organised by the Bangladesh Sammilito Peshajibi Parishad, a platform of pro-BNP professionals, at the Engineers Institution.
Peshajibi Parishad's convener Mahmudur Rahman, also acting editor of daily Amar Desh, presented the keynote speech at the seminar, which was addressed by BNP standing committee member MK Anwar, BNP chairperson's advisers Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and Abdul Awal Mintoo, noted columnist Farhad Mazhar and Dhaka University's Professor Mahbubullah, along with others.
BNP's chairperson Khaleda Zia also attended the seminar but did not address the audience. Mahmudur, in his keynote speech, alleged that a syndicate of top officials of the Prime Minister's Office and finance ministry was 'involved in plundering crores of takas from the share market in a planned manner'.
He alleged that the family of commerce minister Faruk Khan had siphoned off about Tk 1600 crore from the share market.
He described how various companies belonging to Awami League bigwigs had fleeced the investors in the capital market by manipulating share prices at different times.
'Beximco Pharma plundered Tk 410 crore, Summit Power Tk 300 crore, Aftab Automobiles Tk 180 crore, People's Leasing Tk 120 crore and Bangladesh Thai Aluminium Tk 75 crore from the share market,' said Mahmudur.
He said that when Awami League took office in 2009 the general index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, which was 2,757 points, jumped to 8,919 points in two years even though there was no substantial economic progress in that period.
Mahmudur said that Ocean Container Ltd, Khulna Power Company Ltd and CMC Kamal Ltd, owned by Awami League's high-ups, were directly involved in share market manipulation.
He said that the SEC had violated many rules and regulations to favour certain companies. Many of these companies, especially the OCL and KPCL, were over-priced when they were listed and the finance ministry pressured the SEC to enlist them, he alleged.
'The finance minister claims that he was directed by the Prime Minister's Office to issue such instructions,' said Mahmudur. 'It is clear that the ruling party's high-ups were involved in stock manipulation.'
Asking the government to try the plunderers of the share market, Mahmudur voiced some demands including resignation of the finance and commerce ministers, Bangladesh Bank's governor and officials the Anti-Corruption Commission.
He also asked the government to apologise to the small investors, many of whom had become bankrupt.
'Bangladesh never saw such a huge debacle in the share market,' said Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, a former commerce minister, who echoed Mahmudur's statements.
He slammed the government for forming the Bangladesh Fund to apparently stabilize the share market and warned small investors against being taken in by the fund.
'It is a new mechanism to plunder money,' he claimed.
Amir Khasru accused the government of politicising the SEC in the name of reconstituting it.
MK Anwar said that the BNP, after going to power, would take the necessary measures to try the looters of the share market.
Farhad Mazhar called on Khaleda Zia to formulate a 'Nationalist Economic Policy' to strengthen nationalist forces in Bangladesh, which will 'eventually help the BNP to gain power in the next general elections'.
He also asked the BNP to learn from its past mistakes.
Source : New Age
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