The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange commission on Tuesday fined cricketer Shakib Al Hasan, Abul Khayer Hiru and their associates Tk聽1.63 crore for manipulating share price of Paramount Insurance Company Ltd.
The stock market regulator in a meeting imposed the fines. Market analysts said that it was unprecedented that a cricketer has been punished for stock market manipulation.
Shakib and Hiru had been in discussion for share market manipulation since former BSEC chairman Shibli Rubayet Ul Islam joined the commission.
Shakib is chairman of Monarch Holdings Ltd and its managing director is Kazi Sadia Hasan, wife of the controversial stock market manipulator Abul Khayer Hiru.
However, the BSEC had avoided naming Shakib in any investigation report for the sake of country鈥檚 reputation as he is a renowned international cricketer.
The BSEC fined Shakib Tk聽50 lakh and Abul Khayer Hiru Tk聽25 lakh.
Hiru鈥檚 father Abul Kalam Matber was fined Tk聽10 lakh, Zahed Kamal Tk聽1 lakh, Eshaal Communication Limited Tk聽75 lakh, Monarch Mart Tk聽1 lakh, and Lava Electrode Industries Tk聽1 lakh.
Abul Khayer Hiru also owns the Monarch Mart.
According to the BSEC, the company鈥檚 share prices were manipulated for about a month from August 17 to September 19 in 2023.
According to the data of Dhaka Stock Exchange, the market price of the Paramount Insurance鈥檚 shares increased to Tk聽77.1 from Tk聽41.3 during the mentioned timeframe.
Shakib Al Hasan, Abul Khair Hiru and the mentioned individuals and institutional investors manipulated the prices which caused the sudden spike in the value of the company鈥簊 shares.
A complaint was lodged with the Anti Corruption Commission on August 29 alleging Shakib鈥檚 involvement in various corruptions including share market manipulation.
In the complaint made to the ACC, it was mentioned that Shakib had embezzled a total of Tk聽104 crore through manipulation of shares of six companies.
It said that the complaint was investigated by the Dhaka Stock Exchange in which the transaction information and involvement of Shakib鈥簊 BO account was found.
In the complaint, Shakib Al Hasan was mentioned as an associate of share prices manipulator Abul Khayer Hiru, a controversial government jobholder.
Abul Khayer Hiru was fined on March this year also for manipulation of share prices, but no action was taken against Shakib Al Hasan as no evidence was found against him.
However, the regulatory body BSEC removed Shakib from the goodwill ambassadorship due to controversy after the recent change in political scenarios on August 5.
Earlier, the BSEC fined Abul Khayer a total of Tk聽10 lakh for manipulating share prices of Genex Infosys.
In June 2022, the BSEC fined Abul Khayer over Tk聽2 crore for manipulating shares of Asia Insurance, Bangladesh National Insurance and Green Delta Insurance.
Shakib Al Hasan is currently playing for the Bangladesh cricket team in Bangladesh vs India series in India. Also a former member of the parliament, he has been staying abroad since the fall of the Awami League led government.