There was no celebration by investors in the streets of the business district of Motijheel Tuesday, the day following the newly-formed special tribunal delivered its maiden verdict in a stock market-related case.
The tribunal sentenced one Mahbub Sarwar, a former employee of a merchant bank, to suffer two years in prison when he was found guilty of manipulating the stock prices using the social networking sites in the heydays of stock market in 2010.
The spokesperson of the securities regulator, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), termed the verdict 'historic' soon after it was handed down. But the punishment meted out to Sarwar, apparently, could not elate the mood of thousands of investors who had lost funds worth billions of taka in the 2010 market crash.
Tuesday's market mood was rather subdued. Compared to the previous day's rise of 60.51 points, the general index at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSEX) recorded a marginal increase, only 9.27 points on the day.
The investors would surely appreciate the first-ever verdict in a stock market manipulation case. But they will be looking askance at the absence of actions against a few big names that were allegedly instrumental in taking the market to an abnormally high level making the best use of all the lacunae, legal or otherwise.
Some investors might feel tempted to be sympathetic towards Sarwar, the unauthorised stock market tipster, since compared to the crime committed by the big guns he did cause financial damage to a lower number of people to a lesser degree.
Had not the behind-the-scene manipulators taken the market to a sky-high level, it would not have been possible for a small-time manipulator like Sarwar to indulge in the act of cheating a few hundred 'innocent' investors through social networking sites.
Yet a crime is a crime, be it serious one or not. When a criminal act hurts the economic interest of an individual or a nation, the people committing the crime need to be brought to justice.
Unfortunately, the masterminds behind the 1996 share market scam were never brought to justice though a government-launched probe body had mentioned the names of a few individuals. Neither the government of that time was interested nor the process for dispensation of justice proved to be adequate and effective. The men in authority later claimed that actions could not be taken due to the non-availability of sufficient documentary evidence.
Since the authorities were, deliberately or otherwise, not interested to punish the 1996 market manipulators, some among the latter group gathered courage to repeat the same act in 2010, even more efficiently with the help of a section of unscrupulous operators at the bourses and officials of the securities regulator. They made the best use of securities rules involving direct listing, placement shares, book building etc., to generate heat in the market and exploit the unsuspecting investors.
When big players create a situation in the market much to their advantage, some small-time manipulators do also play their part. And that is very much natural. The problem is that the people belonging to the former category because of their links with high places go untouched and it is the members of the second group who usually get caught and are punished. Authorities tend to do it to pacify the aggrieved investors.
Undeniably, the constitution of the special tribunal for handling the capital market-related cases is a positive move since the disposal of such cases by the normal courts has been very much time-consuming.
Courts deliver justice. But those can do their jobs only when the aggrieved parties or someone on their behalf would seek justice fulfilling all the legal requirements. Sarwar has been punished for the crime he had committed five years back. The investors would expect the BSEC to be proactive in putting the masterminds of the 2010 stock market scam in the dock. It would not be hard to find them, for the report prepared by the Khandaker Ibrahim Khaled-led probe body had given some quite relevant indications.
Moreover, if that report is found insufficient, the BSEC can always constitute yet another body to get the truth. The trial of the masterminds is very much essential. Otherwise, at an opportune moment, the manipulators, maybe a new breed, with far more precision would again create a boom and then the inevitable burst would be there.
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