The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) formed a committee on Thursday to investigate the accuracy and relevance of the shares issued and paid-up capital of Rahima Food Corporation.
The three-member committee led by BSEC deputy director Ziaur Rahman has been asked to submit a report within 15 days from the date of the issuance of the directive, according to an order given by the BSEC.
Two other members are Md Rokibul Islam, manager of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), and Kazi Minhaz Uddin, assistant general manager of the Central Depository of Bangladesh Ltd (CDBL).
The BSEC has instructed the panel to investigate whether a consistency is there in the number of shares recorded in the CDBL, the company's registry and the Office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC).
The committee has also been tasked with reviewing whether there are any discrepancies in the suspense account of its beneficiary owner's accounts.
Additionally, they will examine the current shareholding status of the board members and investigate whether any unauthorised shares were issued during the conversion of shares from paper to electronic format.
Alongside, the current shareholding status of the company's late sponsors, directors, the actions so far taken to resolve shareholders' claims, and the details of converting fake shares into demat form will come under the scrutiny of the probe body.
The BSEC has also directed the committee to investigate why the company failed to address several allegations raised by its stock investors.
Rahima Food Corporation, previously an 'A' category company, was listed with the stock exchanges in 1997. The prime bourse delisted the company in July 2018 for not being in operations for a long time.
Later, the company resumed trading on both the bourses in December 2020 in line with the securities regulator's instruction.
Currently, the company's paid-up capital is Tk 200 million and authorised capital is Tk 500 million while total number of shares is 20 million.
The sponsor-directors hold 37.38 per cent stake, institutes 11.75 per cent, foreigners 4.99 per cent and general investors 45.88 per cent as on August 31 this year.
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