ACC to probe Crest Securities scam
The beneficiary owner's (BO) accounts in the member firm of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) had Tk100 crore in securities
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will inquire into the allegations of embezzling Tk65.32 crore of investors' money by Managing Director of Crest Securities Shahid Ullah and his associates.
ACC Deputy Director Abu Bakar Siddique will head the inquiry.
Earlier in July, the Detective Branch of police arrested Shahid Ullah and his wife Nipa Sultana and director of the company Wahiduzzaman over the embezzlement of shares and investors' money.
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Shahid Ullah allegedly embezzled Tk18 crore and had intended to misappropriate all assets worth Tk100 crore from his nearly 22,000 brokerage clients, police said.
The beneficiary owner's (BO) accounts in the member firm of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) had Tk100 crore in securities.
They were arrested in the three cases out of five filed against the brokerage house with Paltan police station on charges of money laundering and fraudulence, an assistant commissioner of DB (Ramna zone) said.
In the last week of June, as soon as noticing irregularities of Crest Securities, the DSE – in consultation with the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) – took prompt action by freezing the remaining assets of the company's owners and requested their travel restriction.
Later in a press conference, DSE Managing Director Kazi Sanaul Hoq told reporters that the owners of the frozen securities will get the opportunity to transfer them to a new BO account through the linking facility approved by the exchange and the regulator.
The bourse would also freeze and sell the DSE shares owned by Crest Securities, along with its brokerage licence, and compensate the cheated clients with the proceeds from the sales.
