Police arrest former BSEC chief Shibli Rubayat Islam

Police arrested the immediate past chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam, from Dhaka city's Dhanmondi area on Tuesday night. Police said Mr. Shibli is a suspect in a number of cases, lodged by the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) involving the stock market and money laundering. A professor at the department of banking and insurance of the Dhaka University, he was first appointed as the BSEC chairman in May 2020. He got reappointment in the same post in May last year. Following the fall of the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina in the face of mass uprising, he resigned on August 10 last year.

A Dhaka court, on the plea from the ACC, imposed a ban on his travel abroad on October 09 last year.

Meanwhile, operations of the bank accounts of Shibli and his son have been halted. Besides, all the beneficiary accounts of the two have been frozen.

Allegations are aplenty about irregularities indulged in by Shibli while he had served as the head of the securities regulator. He, allegedly, had colluded with a section of powerful manipulators in the stock market to gain personal pecuniary gains.

Shibli was found rubbing shoulders with the highly influential quarters of the fascist government of Sheikh Hasina. These quarters reportedly helped him secure the top post of the BSEC twice. In exchange, he helped his mentors manipulate the market and mobilize funds using some old listed issues and new issues through various manipulative activities. As part of a few controversial moves, Shibli organized so-called roadshows at home and abroad at a huge cost.

He was blamed for imposing floor prices that hindered the usual price discovery of the listed securities.

Foreign portfolio investors left the market mainly because of the floor price.

After the fall of the immediate past government, Mr. Islam sent his resignationletter to the ministry of finance through email.

The chief of his department at DU recently said that Mr. Shibli wanted to join the DU but the students refused to accept him.