DSE: Dhaka Stock Exchange brokerage member house Elegant Securities Limited where Investors are not able to trade shares for several days. The brokerage house does not provide any exact data to the investors about the non-trade. The investors were scammed by this company. The chief executive of the company has expressed his inability to give information even to journalists. Regarding this situation, investors are worried about their capital. Market people say that if the trade is closed, it should be posted by any industry. And according to communication experts, misinformation can spread about any firm without providing the right information.

DSE has suspended the company’s trade for not submitting the financial audit report of the previous two years. Even the Dynamic Positioning license of the brokerage house was not allowed to be renewed by the BSEC, the regulatory body of the stock market. Bangladesh Securities & Exchange Commission has also written to DSE not to renew the license of Elegant Stocks and Securities. So far DSE has not renewed the license of Elegant Securities. As a result, the company’s shares have been closed for the past few days.

In the meantime, some investors told Orthosongbad that we have not been able to trade shares for the last four days. We have to come back to the office every day. But even if we ask, the officials here are not telling us anything. We want to transfer our BO account but are unable to do so. We are facing this problem since last Sunday (December 11). On the condition of anonymity, an official of Elegant Stock and Securities Limited told Orthosongbad, DSE has suspended trade because we have not submitted the audit report for 2020 and 2021. As a result, the trading of shares in Elegant Securities has been stopped for the past few days. We have already submitted our documents to DSE, maybe we can start trading from tomorrow (uncertain day).

When Orthosongbad asked, Rashed Mostafa, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Elegant Securities, refused to give any information about the trade suspension. “I don’t want to talk about it with the strangers,” he said on Wednesday (13 December), Orthosongbad also asked if there was a trades in Elegant Securities. He replied again I do not receive phone calls from unknown numbers. So I don’t want to talk about it with strangers. You come to the office next week. At one point, he got impatient and said, “Now if I say that I am the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, is that correct?” As of now, you have introduced yourself as a journalist, how can I understand that you are a journalist? You should come to the office next week, I will talk directly. I cannot give you any information about this over the phone.

Even though Rashed Mostafa did not want to talk about the issue, Dhaka Stock Exchange Acting Managing Director M Saifur Rahman Majumder affirmed the financial news that the trade of Elegant Securities has been suspended. He told Orthosongbad that those brokerage houses that do not comply with the rules should be suspended from trading. Renewal of DP license of Elegant Securities are not allowed. A letter from BSEC has asked them not to renew their licenses.

Orthosongbad has also asked about the reason for not renewing the license, the Acting Managing Director of DSE said that Elegant Securities has not submitted the audit report of the last two years. They took many times, but did not submit the report. That is why the license of this company was not allowed to be renewed. We have nothing to do when the commission says.

Orthosongbad asked the executive director and spokesperson of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), Rezaul Karim told Orthosongbad that if the conditions are not met, the license renewal of the brokerage house will not be allowed. In that firm investors have money, the commission will see that they are not harmed. The commission will take action keeping in mind that the interests of the investors are not undermined in any way.

Referring a question from Orthosongbad, Share market analyst Professor Abu Ahmed said, if any brokerage house is closed, it should be informed to the general investors. Investors have money here, the company should give reasons for the trade suspension. And if the trade of any brokerage is suspended, it should be reported to DSE. He also added that DSE should conduct periodic investigations in brokerage houses. And investors need to choose different institutionally owned brokerage houses. Irregularities are more common in privately owned brokerage houses. Banks, insurance or good financial institutions are relatively safe that owned by Brokerage houses.

Communication expert and chairman of journalism and media communication department of Green University. Sheikh Shafiul Islam thinks that the company should maintain contact with clients. He said, if the data is not given, confusion about the company may spread. Miscommunications can arise if a person does not get information from the organization he works with. There may be a lack of credibility in the organization. As a result, there will be a negative impact in this case.

During November 28, 2021, Tamha Securities stopped trading shares on its own. Same year, December 9 DSE suspended the company’s trading due to the embezzlement of customers’ money. On January 25 this year, Bangladesh Financial Intelligence closed the bank account of Tamha Securities at the request of BSEC.

Also, trading of the institution was suspended in June 2021 in connection with the embezzlement of Tk 66 crore and shares from the ‘combined customer accounts’ of Banco Securities’ investors. Crest Securities also has trading suspended due to similar issues. As a result, many investors have suffered due to fraudulent brokerage houses.