Stock Market Manipulation
Judge appointment to special tribunal awaits SC nod
The appointment of the judge to the first-ever special tribunal to deal with the cases for stock market manipulation is awaiting Supreme Court approval.
The law ministry in January sent a proposal to the Supreme Court for appointing Mustafizur Rahman, a district judge now deputed in the ministry, as the judge of the tribunal.
Once a judge is appointed to the tribunal, formed recently under the Securities and Exchange Ordinance 1969 for the first time, would come into function.
‘The proposal is yet to be approved by the Supreme Court,’ law minister Anisul Huq told New Age on Saturday.
Acting law secretary Abu Saleh Sheikh Md Zahirul Haque on Saturday said that the proposal was sent to the Supreme Court about 20-25 days ago.
‘We will issue a gazette notification on the appointment after getting the approval,’ Zahirul added.
Supreme Court registrar AKM Shamsul Islam said that the proposal would be placed before the General Administration Committee of the Supreme Court which could not hold its meeting as committee member Justice ATM Fazle Kabir went into retirement in December 2013 and another member Justice Md Nuruzzaman was sick.
Headed by the chief justice, Md Muzammel Hossain, the committee also includes Justice Mohammad Anwarul Haque and Justice Abu Bakar Siddique.
The General Administration Committee is responsible for the superintendence and control over the affairs of all subordinate courts and tribunals.
The government on December 10, 2012 amended the Securities and Exchange Ordinance 1969 making provisions for the establishment of special tribunal/s to deal with the cases relating to stock markets in response to a longstanding demand from different quarters.
According to statistics available with the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission, the number of cases filed by and against the commission rose to 398 till September 2012 which was only 52 in 1999.
Of the 398 cases, six were pending with the Appellate Division, 159 with the High Court, 203 with the General Certificate Court in Dhaka, nine with the Dhaka 5th Joint District Judge’s Court, two with the 4th Assistant Judge’s Court and the rest with different other lower courts, the data showed.
In September 2013, the commission sent the report on the progress of 17 cases to the finance ministry.
None of the 17 cases related to stock market scams in 1996 and 2010-11 have so far been disposed of even after the appointments of two new lawyers to deal with the cases, the commission informed the finance ministry.
Following a parliamentary standing committee recommendation in April 2013, the commission appointed Supreme Court lawyers Probir Neogi and Rezaul Karim Chowdhury to deal with the stock market scam related cases in June 2013.
The commission report showed that 15 of the 17 cases were filed in connection with the 1996 stock market scam. Of them, one was pending with the Appellate Division, 12 with the High Court and two with the Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court.
The rest two of the 17 cases were filed in connection with stock market scam in 2010 which were also under trial, said the report.
-With New Age input
