The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday imposed a massive fine of Tk聽428.52 crore on nine individuals and companies for manipulating the shares of Bangladesh Export Import Company Ltd.
The unprecedented amount of monetary penalty was imposed during a BSEC commission meeting chaired by its chairman Khondoker Rashed Maqsood.
A BSEC investigation revealed widespread manipulation in Beximco Ltd鈥檚 stock trading between July 28, 2021, and September 6, 2021, as well as January 2, 2022, and March 10, 2022.
During the periods, Beximco鈥檚 share price spiked from Tk聽91.30 to Tk聽119.8 and later from Tk聽154.1 to Tk聽152, raising suspicions of price rigging.
The investigation uncovered significant manipulation, leading to penalties of four individuals and five institutional investors.
Mosfequr Rahman was fined the highest amount of Tk聽125 crore, followed by a company named Crescent Ltd Tk聽73 crore.
Besides, Momtazur Rahman was fined Tk聽58 crore, Abdur Rouf Tk聽31 crore, Marjana Rahman Tk聽30 crore, ART International Limited Tk聽70 crore, Jupiter Business Tk聽22.5 crore, Apollo Trading Tk聽15.01 crore and TradeNext International Tk聽4.01 crore.
Beneficiary investor Abdur Rouf was a director at Crescent Ltd, while Mosfequr Rahman had ties to Jupiter Business Ltd.
Both Jupiter Business and TradeNext International were allegedly linked to BEXIMCO Group.
The investors were involved in circular trading schemes to inflate share prices artificially.
The investigation report prepared by Dhaka Stock Exchange revealed that the errant investors collectively gained Tk聽846 crore from the manipulative trades, with Tk聽319.74 crore realised and Tk聽526.48 crore in unrealised gains.
The DSE submitted its findings in 2022, but the then BSEC chairman Shibli Rubayat-Ul Islam shelved the report for two years.
Salman F Rahman, the private industry and investment adviser to the disposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, owns Beximco Ltd.
Salman Rahman is now in jail in several murder cases, and Shibli Rubayat-Ul Islam resigned as BSEC chairman following the ouster of the government.
The BSEC at the commission meeting also decided to inspect the use of initial public offering and repeat public offering funds of nine companies.
The companies are Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, Best Holdings, Index Agro Industries, JMI Hospital Requisite Manufacturing, Lube-rref (Bangladesh), Navana Pharmaceuticals, Ring Shine Textiles, Sikder Insurance Co and Silva Pharmaceuticals.