Eight SECP employees served show-cause notices on data leak

ISLAMABAD: The Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has served show-cause notices to eight officials involved in the data leak.

On the recommendation of fact finding committee, the Commission issued show-cause notices to eight officials including Additional Director (Market Surveillance Department) Arsalan Zafar Hujazi. The remaining officials are from the IT wing and companies’ registration office SECP.

The head of fact finding committee Sadia Khan on Saturday presented the data leak report to the Commission in which they declared eight people responsible as they allegedly committed several mistakes. The committee recommended strict action against them in accordance with the SECP human resource manual.

The department, while confiscating Hijazi’s laptop, also sent him on forced leave. It was further reported that the former SECP chairman’s son had also deleted the data from his laptop and obtained a letter from SECP’s HR department to apply for a UK visa. These employees who have been issued the notices can submit a written reply within seven days, and hearings will be held for each person in front of the Commission, subsequently, the Commission will decide the punishments in accordance with the SECP HR manual where the minor penalties and the major penalties have been clearly defined.

The major penalty included dismissal and minor is suspension from service, with a possibility that the case could be referred to FIA. On Tuesday, the data leak matter was also discussed in federal cabinet meeting. SECP Chairman Amir Khan also met with Prime Minister Imran Khan and reportedly informed the update on this matter, official sources said.