B Mirror Report: The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has fined three members of the same family a total of Tk 73.76 lakh over alleged share price manipulation involving Trust Islami Life Insurance.

The individuals fined are Abu Taher Sikder, his wife Umma Salma Nipa and her brother SM Shahed Shakil. They were accused of creating artificial trading activity and driving up the company’s share price through consecutive transactions.

The BSEC’s enforcement department recently issued an order in this regard.

According to the commission’s investigation, the three investors traded Trust Islami Life shares through multiple beneficiary owner (BO) accounts and brokerage firms between June 1 and August 28, 2025.

During the period, they collectively purchased 5,122,693 shares of the company for Tk 276.27 million and sold 4,406,109 shares for Tk 244.52 million.

The investigation report estimated their realised capital gains from share sales at Tk 20.92 million. In addition, their 1,433,260 remaining shares had unrealised gains of Tk 36.61 million, calculated using the closing price of Tk 83.20 on August 28, 2025.

Their combined realised and unrealised gains exceeded Tk 57.5 million, according to the report.

The investigation found that Abu Taher Sikder traded through four accounts with IFIC Securities, City Bank Capital Resources, MTB Securities and Kazi Equities. SM Shahed Shakil traded through City Bank Capital Resources, while Umma Salma Nipa conducted transactions through Arena Securities.

During the hearing, the three investors denied the allegations, claiming they had purchased the shares as long-term investments based on Trust Islami Life’s business prospects and expected future growth.

Abu Taher Sikder said he traded directly through one brokerage firm, while his wife and relative placed orders by mobile phone through other brokerage firms. They argued that similarities among orders placed through different firms might have resulted in matching transactions.

The BSEC rejected their explanation, observing that simultaneous opposing orders from multiple accounts belonging to members of the same family, combined with consecutive transactions that pushed up the share price, could not reasonably be considered coincidental.

For violations of Sections 17(e)(ii) and 17(e)(v) of the Securities and Exchange Ordinance, 1969, the commission fined Abu Taher Sikder Tk 53.25 lakh, Umma Salma Nipa Tk 5 lakh and SM Shahed Shakil Tk 15.51 lakh.

Additionally, each of the three investors was fined Tk 1 lakh for creating artificial trading activity.