Harassment of NRB share investors
Photo: AFP
Is there no limit to the creative genius of our bureaucracy to invent new methods to harass the public? Here I highlight the woes of NRBs investing in the stock market. SEC and DSE have already been informed many times but without any response. 1) If an IPO application is allotted, everything is fine. If not, then the refund process takes at least 4-6 months. If the refund warrant is sent by courier, they never deliver it. After waiting and waiting, you go to the office and if lucky, get the refund warrant. It takes another 2-3 months for the warrant to be cashed! Why cannot the refund FC amount be credited straight to the NRB, FC account of the applicant just as RB refunds are? 2) Recently, dividends warrants of shares against NRB applications are sent in taka with the FC bank account (Prime First Mutual Fund from ICB AMCL), so it cannot be cashed. When pointed out, they require all sorts of documents from the NRB, totally sidestepping the authority given to Nominees. After a lot of correspondence, they have now asked the brokerage house to confirm God knows what? Mentionable that it is my signature as Nominee against which the shares were allotted in the first place, but now my status as Nominee is in doubt!! Result--- the dividend is lost somewhere. I am an 80 year old Nominee of my NRB children running their accounts for over 5 years. Is it possible for me to run from pillar to post for illogical bureaucratic tangles?
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