The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) formed a five-member inquiry and investigation committee on September 2 to investigate irregularities, corruption and manipulation in the capital market in the last 15 years. Although the formation of the committee was welcomed, market stakeholders have raised objections to two members of the committee. One of them is former managing director of AIIMS Bangladesh Yawar Sayeed. There has already been a lot of controversy about him. In this situation, there are questions among market stakeholders about how acceptable it will be to investigate irregularities and corruption. In addition, questions have been raised among BSEC officials and employees about the investigation committee. The members of the committee are receiving an honorarium of 2 lakh taka per month. They are conducting the investigation slowly to take more time.

After the formation of the investigation committee on September 2 last year, 60 days were given to submit the report. After that, the investigation committee has extended the time several times. But after 6 months, the investigation committee has been able to submit reports on 7 out of 12 issues. The quality of the report has also been questioned by BSEC officials.

Executive Director Mahbubul Alam raised this question on behalf of BSEC officials and employees at a press conference at the Securities Commission building on Wednesday (March 5).

At the press conference, BSEC’s Mahbubul Alam said that this BSEC investigation committee is controversial. The reason behind calling it controversial is that two members of the investigation committee are from market intermediary institutions. They have been associated with the commission for a long time as they have received licenses from BSEC. Therefore, there is a conflict of interest here.

In addition, Mahbubul Alam raised questions about their investigation report. He said that questions have been raised about why BSEC officials wrote in the ‘passive voice instead of the active voice’ in the investigation report. Which has been called misconduct and extreme negligence of duty. The investigation report has highlighted such problems.