Signs of refund appear as DSE looks to finalise ownership transfer deal

Four years after investors lost assets to fund embezzlement by Shah Mohammad Sagir & Company, the Dhaka bourse took a move to settle claims.
Now, the clients of the brokerage firm, who fell victim to its fraudulent activities, may hope for some sort of remedy as a garment owner has shown interest in buying the licence of the scam-hit firm.
The purchasing of licence by the garment maker, Saad Musa Group is tied to a condition that investors' claims would have to be settled first.
A DSE official said, preferring not to be named, that the bourse had already received 4,242 complaints, which entailed paying back of Tk 52.14 million to clients of Shah Mohammad Sagir & Co.
In a stock market filing on Thursday, the exchange urged those, who are yet to make claims, to apprise it by October 1 of how much assets they had with the broker.
"In case of embezzlement of money or shares or both, respective clients are requested to submit complaints," reads the DSE filing. Clients of the brokerage firm will have to file their claims along with proper documents to the chief regulatory officer of the DSE.
Investors have been asked to contact the complaints, arbitration and litigation department of the DSE for any further query about the matter.
Trading of Mohammad Sagir & Company was suspended on September 25, 2019 after the regulator had become aware of misappropriation of investors' money.
A DSE inquiry committee had found a deficit of around Tk 132 million in its consolidated customer account.
The DSE had halted trade at the firm along with suspending its DP (depository participant) license.
Though the ownership will change, the name of the brokerage firm will remain the same as per current rules.
Muhammad Mohsin, managing director of Saad Musa Group, said the purchasing of Mohammad Sagir & Co was still under process.
He said share transfer was still pending and that a portion of the money had already been deposited.
"We believe the deal will be sealed by January next year."
Meanwhile, many investors lost money in the last four years due to the closure of at least four brokerage houses, including Mohammad Sagir & Co. The firms siphoned off funds by selling off investors' shares and by not carrying out buy orders even after accepting cash.
Three other brokerage houses -- Banco Securities, Crest Securities and Tamha Securities -- were shut for defrauding general investors of around Tk 2 billion.
Presently, trading in these firms is suspended.
The financial crime took place because of the absence of strict monitoring by the DSE and the securities regulator, market analysts said.
The DSE refunded Tk 47.60 million to 432 affected investors of these three brokerage firms until June 29 last year.
Mohammad Rezaul Karim, BSEC spokesperson and executive director, said they were working to refund affected investors' in phases and continued discussion with the brokerage firms.
"We need more time to get the claims and verify them. That's the reason behind the delay in settling the claims."

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