1996 share scam: 2 textile co officials jailed

In the first verdict over the 1996 stock market crash, two top officials of Chic Textiles have been found guilty by a special court for share price manipulations.
The special tribunal for stock market-related cases sentenced the company’s Managing Director Md Maksudur Rasul and Director Iftekhar Mohammad to four years of rigorous imprisonment. They have been also fined by Tk3 million each, failing to pay which, they will have to spend another six months in jail. The tribunal delivered its verdict on Monday in absence of the duo. The stock market regulator SEC filed cases against 15 organisations and 36 individuals over price manipulations, which caused the market to crash in 1996, leaving thousands of investors broke. The then the Securities and Exchange Commission, now Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission, filed a case against the Chic Textile officials on April 2, 1997. The company, publicly listed in 1995, raised Tk125.40 million from the market. In 1996, the company’s share prices rose to Tk46 from its face value of Tk7. The case was shifted to the special tribunal after it was formed in June this year. On June 28, arrest warrants were out for the two, who had secured bail from the High Court.
The trial concluded on August 27 and on Monday the verdict was delivered. BSEC’s Panel Lawyer Masud Rana said this was the first verdict of a case filed over the 1996 market scam, according to bdnews24.com.
- biplab