ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) will continue to identify financial crimes without getting any influence, chief of the watchdog said on Tuesday.
Briefing newsmen SECP chairman Zafar Hijazi said, “Now after a hard work of around two years, we can comfortably claim that no financial criminal can hide from the SECP, as we are continuously watching the capital markets.
After selecting the most competent officials in the SECP and properly training to watch the stock trading efficiently to remove the earlier weakness and bottlenecks, during the last two months, the commission has filed nine cases against individuals for disseminating false information or luring investors towards improper investments.
Hijazi said that the SECP is actively coordinating with the FIA and NAB to deal with persons involved in financial crimes related to capital market. The commission had already booked several employees of three leading banks for insider trading.
The commission has also pinpointed another inside trading network in another bank, which comprises a group of 27 people, he said, adding, this high profile insider trading case is expected to be finalised next week.
The SECP chairman said that cybercrime is a big challenge and he has written a letter to the interior ministry, suggesting to form a joint task force comprising officials of the SECP, SBP, FIA and NAB and hold a meeting on a monthly basis.
He also shared information regarding a self-styled stock guru Mir Muhammad Ali Khan, who was levering his followers at social media by giving self-serving investment tips. The SECP has caught this man red-handed, after monitoring him for almost two years. A criminal case has been filed against him in the Sessions Court Karachi.
Mir Muhammad Ali Khan used to give advice over stock market and actively engaged in giving interviews, while not being a registered research analyst. The SECP official said Khan accumulated scrips from the equity market and subsequently starting sharing his analysis / research at social media on that scrip and proposed a target price.
He subsequently re-posts on the same scrip with additional highlights pointers on a scrip, which induces general investors to follow his advice. Contrary to his advice, Khan sold his holdings and in the last six months posted a profit of around Rs58.65 million. The SECP informed the details of stock market operations by Mir Muhammad Ali Khan.
Hijazi said that in 1999, the US SEC had also fined him for $2.5 million for such illegal activities and banned him. “We are also going to request the US SEC to provide us the documents regarding Mir Muhammad Ali Khan,” he added.
