Three, including one deceased, get five-yr jail term

The special tribunal on capital market has awarded five-year jail-term to each of the three board members of a company for committing forgeries, said officials.

The tribunal delivered the verdict on Sunday on completion of the hearing of a case involving the Mark Bangladesh Shilpa & Engineering, now a de-listed company.

The persons convicted by the tribunal are chairman and managing director Imam Mulkutur Rahman, executive director and vice-chairman Engineer Abul Hai and director Salma Akhter. The convicted persons will also have to pay a penalty worth Tk 5.0 million each.

The tribunal judge Sheikh Akbar Ali delivered the verdict in absence of all the three persons convicted. All the persons barring Imam Mulkutur are now absconding. Imam Mulkutur died years back.

Mark Bangladesh Shilpa & Engineering went public in 1996.

Later, it was de-listed by the bourses for non-payment of dividend to the shareholders and listing fee to the bourses for more than seven years.

Presently, Mark Bangladesh is traded in the over-the-counter (OTC) market of the Chattogram bourse.

Advocate Masud Rana, a lawyer of the securities regulator, said Mark Bangladesh issued shares through initial public offering (IPO) by taking premium at a high rate from the investors.

"The company also raised the IPO fund, showing a plant that actually did not exist," he added.

An official of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) said the board members of Mark Bangladesh had committed the major forgeries.

"There was no such forgery that the company's board members had not committed," he said.

The BSEC official also said the company purchased machineries from local market although it was supposed to procure those from Germany.

"The company also diverted funds raised through IPO, and misappropriated it," he added.

In 2000, the securities regulator filed the case against Mark Bangladesh and its board members under Section 25 of the Securities and Exchange Ordinance 1969 in the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) court.

Later, the case was transferred to the special tribunal on capital market in 2015.

Finally, the tribunal delivered its verdict on Sunday after completing the hearing.

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