Court Correspondent :
A special tribunal yesterday (Monday) found the former Managing Director of BD Welding and a journalist guilty of manipulating share prices of the company listed on the stock exchange.
The tribunal sentenced former top official of the company SM Nurul Islam and the Daily Industry Editor Enayet Karim to three years in prison for propping up share prices through false information in 2007.
The tribunal also fined them Tk two million each and in default, they will suffer another six months each in prison.
The verdict of the court says that they provided false information to the market, which caused BD Welding stock prices to hike from Tk 6.9 to Tk 42.50.
On Mar 6, 2007, the stock regulator opened an inquiry into the abnormal hike in share prices of the company.
The court found that the then BD Welding Managing Director had informed the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) that the company was in talking terms with Saudi Investment Group Al Awad for an oxygen plant in Chittagong.
He also told the DSE that the Saudi group had proposed to visit BD Welding’s plant on Mar 9 the same year.
Investigations revealed that actually no foreign entity visited their plant. Documents seized from the company’s office showed that the emails sent in the name of Al Awad Group were sent from the office of the Daily Industry Editor Enayet Karim. The newspaper, was then the ‘Weekly Industry’, ran a news story -BD Welding in talks with Saudi investors on Mar 1, 2007.
A special tribunal yesterday (Monday) found the former Managing Director of BD Welding and a journalist guilty of manipulating share prices of the company listed on the stock exchange.
The tribunal sentenced former top official of the company SM Nurul Islam and the Daily Industry Editor Enayet Karim to three years in prison for propping up share prices through false information in 2007.
The tribunal also fined them Tk two million each and in default, they will suffer another six months each in prison.
The verdict of the court says that they provided false information to the market, which caused BD Welding stock prices to hike from Tk 6.9 to Tk 42.50.
On Mar 6, 2007, the stock regulator opened an inquiry into the abnormal hike in share prices of the company.
The court found that the then BD Welding Managing Director had informed the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) that the company was in talking terms with Saudi Investment Group Al Awad for an oxygen plant in Chittagong.
He also told the DSE that the Saudi group had proposed to visit BD Welding’s plant on Mar 9 the same year.
Investigations revealed that actually no foreign entity visited their plant. Documents seized from the company’s office showed that the emails sent in the name of Al Awad Group were sent from the office of the Daily Industry Editor Enayet Karim. The newspaper, was then the ‘Weekly Industry’, ran a news story -BD Welding in talks with Saudi investors on Mar 1, 2007.
