A member of the Stock Market Reform Task Force, economist Dr. Mohammad Helal Uddin, claimed that the Awami League government had intentionally and willingly enabled all of the anomalies and looting that had occurred in the stock market over the previous 15 years. Not even the outgoing president can escape this obligation.

He made these remarks on Saturday, December 21, while serving as the special guest of honor at the opening of the Innova Securities branch and the Financial Literacy Program in Bhairab, Kishoreganj. The Capital Market Journalists Forum (CMJF) founding president and editor of the Financial Times, Ziaur Rahman, was the event’s special guest.

The executive vice chairman of the Micro-Credit Regulatory Authority (MRA), Dr. Helal, stated that the propensity to seize people’s wealth through a variety of means rises in an environment devoid of democracy and public accountability. The previous government had installed its loyalists in various places to grab hundreds of crores of taka in this way. The stock market is no exception.

Dhaka University Economics Professor and Stock Market Analyst Dr. Mohammad Helal Uddin said, “While the supply of shares in the stock market has increased in the last decade and a half, the demand has not increased as much. Most of the IPOs that have come to the market during this time have been of low quality. Due to this, real demand has not been created in the market. Many people invest on the advice of others and then lose everything.” Former Mayor of Bhairab Municipality Advocate Fakhrul Alam Akkas, Bhairab BNP President Rafiqul Islam, among others, spoke at the event.