ACC won't probe in line with Khaled panel report

FE Team | Published: October 01, 2012 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

FE Report
Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) will not investigate the allegation of money laundering through share market in line with the probe report earlier submitted by Krishi Bank Chairman Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled, head of the enquiry committee, ACC chairman Ghulam Rahman said Sunday.
He said the five-man inquiry team formed by the commission will follow the report of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in probing into the allegation that some people linked with the capital market laundered huge amount of money.
"We will not follow the report of Mr Ibrahim Khaled in the investigation," the ACC chairman told reporters at his office.
Chief of the anti-graft watchdog said the investigators will interrogate the persons whose names were in the report of the securities regulator.
He said investigating corruption in the stock market is not the responsibility of the commission. "It's the duty of the regulatory body," he added.
Replying to a question, Mr Ghulam Rahman said the anti graft body had no authority in the past to probe into corruption in the capital market, but after enacting the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2012, it has got power to investigate public corruption in the capital market.
"According to the act, we'll look into the corruption in the capital market, which occurred after January 16, 2012," he added.
He further said that the commission will investigate the cases relating to the money laundering and other irregularities of the share market that fall under its jurisdiction.
ACC deputy director Harun Ar Rashid will lead the committee. The other team members are: ACC deputy assistant directors Monirul Islam, Hafizur Rahman, Rezaul Islam Tarafder and Tajul Islam.
According to the SEC report, it found that the individual and institutional investors violated the rules in 2010 when the stock market had an abnormal rise and many securities were overpriced and many new companies were listed in the bourses.
The probe body detected the irregularities after an investigation into 19 shadow accounts under omnibus accounts with three merchant banks, also the loan providers.
According to the investigation report, all the 10 big players, including political leaders, took credit or margin facilities against high-priced and non-marginable securities from merchant banks through omnibus accounts.
An omnibus account is a specific kind of stock-holding account that involves multiple investors. In an omnibus account, the account manager holds investments of various clients in one account, which he or she trades on behalf of the client base.
In an omnibus account, there are hundreds or even thousands of investors, and a merchant bank acts as a portfolio manager of the accounts and deals with share transactions with only one beneficiary owner's account.