Editorial
A probe committee at last
Announcement welcome but investigation period too long
We welcome the formation of a committee to probe the stock exchange manipulation that rocked the capital market and by extension the financial market as well. The choice of the chair is commendable as a man with expertise and professionalism is going to lead the investigation team.
The greenhorn investors were fleeced of their fortunes at the Dhaka Stock Exchange in a dash even before they could realize. Scamsters escaped unhurt. And all that the government did was to take some adhoc palliative measures and through their inaction allowed an atmosphere of blame and counter blame being traded, as more than 30 lac investors lost whatever savings they had garnered. It appears that it's been a well designed maneuver by market manipulators to hoodwink the biggest money market who may have romped home with their ill gotten capital.
There has been a deliberate attempt to turn attention to the central bank, holding it responsible for causing a cash crunch. But experts say the Central bank regulates the money market while the Stock Exchange Commission (SEC) regulates the capital market; therefore, Bangladesh Bank cannot be held responsible for this debacle.
The market was on the rise for almost a year. When symptoms of overheating was looming why did not the concerned authorities sense a doom and intervene to save the situation? The trading community could have been bailed out from imminent disaster. Why this apathy on part of the SEC?
After the upheaval of sorts and irreparable damage, government has announced a concrete step hopefully to regularize the market and create confidence among the investors through instituting a probe, but then the three months given to finalize its report including identifying the culprits is too long a time. The immediate challenge before the government would be to stem collapse of the market by taking some concrete problem-solving ad interim measures to restore minimum confidence of investors in the SEC. The goal should be to put the capital market back on course and ensure transparency of its operations on a sustainable basis.
Let us not forget that it is on the quality of the outcome delivered by the probe committee that will ultimately reflect on the credibility of the government.
Hopefully, the committee has appropriate terms of reference and will never fall short of all kinds of logistical support to operate in fulfilling its mandate.
We say to the committee, spare nobody, no institution or group in pursuit of truth, however high, mighty and powerful they may be, and fully expose them to the public.
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