SECP approves FIA referral in Bagasra case; Rs 49m claims still unpaid

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has approved a referral to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for legal action in the Bagasra Securities case. The brokerage ceased operations over 16 years ago, with nearly Rs 49 million in approved investor claims still unpaid.

The SECP's approval allows a written reference under Section 41B of the SECP Act, 1997, enabling the FIA to initiate formal proceedings. According to the Dawn Business report, the SECP has identified Sikandar Esmail Ahmed, director and CEO; Shakeela Sikandar, director; and Arshad Iqbal, advocate and liquidator, as accused in the matter.

The SECP initiated an inquiry in March 2010 following complaints about unauthorised dealings in clients' securities. The inquiry found that clients' shares had been transferred and pledged without consent to obtain financing and meet exposure margins, benefiting selected clients at the expense of others. A total of 176.2 million shares, including clients' holdings, were pledged between July 2007 and March 2010, resulting in the sale of pledged shares following default.

Brief written by urgent.news from Daily Times, Dawn Business — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.