SEC will fry big fish on dubious stock deals
View(s):It seems that only the ‘small fish were fried’ while the big ones have managed to escape through the very large holes in the (fraud) net, according to a vociferous campaigner against financial mismanagement.
Deputy Minister of Economic Planning Dr. Harsha de Silva told the Business Times that this regime is in the process of closing these flaws and that it will only be a matter of a short time before the culprits are brought to book.
“Financial frauds, securities frauds and all other types of fraud need to follow a process and I am 100 per cent certain that we will be able to prosecute them and the courts will dish out the appropriate punishment,” he said, while admitting that only the ‘small fish were fried’ while the big ones are yet to be caught. Pertaining to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) probes, Dr. De Silva added that delay in these investigations was mainly due to inadequate staff and some insider dealings’ of a unique kind. “The issue was with not having the right staff and also these probes were hampered by people within/inside (the SEC) who are connected to the stock market mafia,” he said, adding that once the new Director General is appointed, the SEC chairman would have the ability to quickly move this process.
The SEC recently has called information from the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) on suspect transactions during 2011-2013, sources close to CSE said.
“These are on certain transactions that were allegedly fraudulent and those which were ‘literally swept under the carpet’,” a source told the Business Times. According to him most probes were shut in the past owing to ‘insufficient’ information which was a popular ‘excuse’ when certain probes didn’t see the light of day.