The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has fined four investors a total of Tk85 lakh for violating rule in Janata Insurance Company’s share transactions.
Of the investors, Md Saif Ullah has been fined Tk40 lakh, AG Mahmud Tk20 lakh, SM Motaharul Janan Tk20 lakh, and Hasina Akther Tk5 lakh. The penalties were imposed in the last week of April.
According to the law, any investor who wants to hold or acquire more than 10% of the shares in a listed company must announce their intention through the stock exchange before the transaction.
However, these investors did not follow this rule and failed to make the necessary announcement.
With this, they transacted shares “unfairly” to make benefits, according to the BSEC officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
This is the third time Md Saif Ullah and AG Mahmud have been fined within a span of one and a half years.
In July 2020, Janata Insurance’s share price was around Tk14.7, which rose 337% to Tk63.2 within nine months without any price-sensitive information, according to the Dhaka Stock Exchange website.
After that, in July 2023, its share price stood at the Tk27 level but rose 83% to Tk49.6 without any valid reason.
Earlier, in March this year, the BSEC also fined Md Saif Ullah and AG Mahmud Tk55 lakh in total for manipulating the share prices of Index Agro Industries, a publicly traded feed maker.
An investigation by the commission found that AG Mahmud and Md Saif Ullah were engaged in manipulating the share prices of Index Agro.
Consequently, the commission fined AG Mahmud Tk25 lakh and Md Saif Ullah Tk30 lakh for violating securities laws by trading shares.
According to the DSE, Index Agro Industries’ share price was around Tk60 in May 2021, which rose 145% to Tk147 in a few months without any available price-sensitive information.
In April 2022, its share price stood at Tk90 but rose 72% to Tk155 without any valid reason.
In October 2022, the commission had fined AG Mahmud and Md Saif Ullah for manipulating share prices as well.
At that time, AG Mahmud was fined Tk3 crore for manipulating the share prices of National Feed Mills, while Md Saif Ullah was fined Tk85 lakh. Saif Ullah was also penalised Tk25 lakh for manipulating Safko Spinning’s shares.
Earlier, the commission had penalised four individuals, including AG Mahmud, Saif Ullah, Kazi Sadia Hasan, and DIT Co-Operative Limited, a total of Tk2.40 crore for manipulating Bangladesh National Insurance Company Limited shares, even though the four investors made a profit of around Tk5 crore from the scheme.
The commission also fined Md Abdul Quader Tk1 lakh for violating rules in share transactions of Regent Textile Mills Limited.
