Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has sent references to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against two registered broker firms allegedly involved in a billions of rupees fraud.

The firms, which committed the fraud, are Stock Street Securities (Private) Limited (SSSL) and Capital Vision Securities (Private) Limited (CVSL). Before sending the references to the NAB, the SECP conducted an enquiry into the fraud under Section 21 of the Securities Exchange Ordinance 1969 and nominated an official for coordination with the NAB. It was said in the references sent to the NAB that legal action should be initiated against the directors of both firms registered with the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSE). It was clearly mentioned in the references that both firms carried the engineered crime of fraud and devoured billions of rupees of the people. Sources told Daily Times that people invested billions of rupees in the stock exchange through the SSSL, but its CEO Baber Mushtaq sold out the entire stock on April 28 and fled to the United States. SSSL Director Naeem Shakir informed the PSE about the fraud and the authorities froze all assets and accounts of the firm on May 2.

People who invested through this broker firm — Shaukat Ali (Rs 7 million), MSc student Aslam (Rs 5 million), Sheraz Akbar (Rs 1.2 million), Naveed Iqbal (Rs 1 million), Fatima Zafar (Rs 1 million), Javed (Rs 5 million) and 60 other people (Rs 80 million) — have filed financial claims with PSE Regional Head Sagheer Mushtaq. The number of people who invested money through these firms is increasing on a daily basis because new complainants are coming forward on a daily basis. The SSSL has been working in Pakistan for the last 12 years and it has more than 2,000 clients, including 200 clients who are regular investors. The affected people say they have been robbed of all their money and requested the government to take steps to get them their money back. Similarly, the CEO and directors of the CVSL robbed the people of their savings and the PSE officials froze the company’s assets and bank accounts. The SECP conducted an enquiry into these scams under Section 21 of the SEO Ordinance 1969, declared the scams engineered crimes and sent references against them to the NAB under sections 137 and 139 of the Securities Exchange Act 2015. The SECP spokesperson said that enquiries into the charges against the SSSL and CVSL had been completed and references against the CEOs and directors of the two firms had been sent to the NAB.