Bangladesh capital market 'manipulation': Report against cricketer Shakib within 3 months

A Dhaka court has ordered a report to be submitted by Sept 21 in the case filed against former national cricket team captain Shakib Al Hasan and 14 others accused of embezzling billions through stock market manipulation.

Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md Zakir Hossain Galib gave the order on Thursday.

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Assistant Director Aminul Islam said the judge accepted the statement and ordered the report’s submission after the case was filed on Jun 17.

The case was filed on Tuesday by ACC Assistant Director Sajjad Hossain.

The accused list includes Shakib's mother Shirin Akhter, Deputy Registrar of the Cooperatives Department Abul Khair, his wife Kazi Sadia Hasan, Abul Kalam Madbar, Kanika Afroz, Mohammad Bashar, Sajed Madbar, Aleya Begum, Kazi Fuad Hasan, Kazi Farid Hasan, Javed A Matin, Md Zahed Kamal, Md Humayun Kabir, and Tanvir Nizam.

Shakib, once the brand ambassador of both the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the ACC, now finds himself accused in the same ACC case linked to a capital market scandal.

In the case dossier, ACC mentions the accused have systematically violated the existing laws and regulations related to investment in the stock market, such as Section 17 of the Securities and Exchange Ordinance, 1969, with the “malicious intent of abusing power through criminal conspiracy in collusion with each other”.

According to the ACC’s findings, the group used multiple beneficiary owner (BO) accounts to engage in speculative and manipulative trading, misleading retail investors and extracting profits through artificially engineered price hikes in specific stocks.

The scheme reportedly led to losses among the public and enabled the accused to misappropriate nearly Tk 2.57 billion, presented falsely as capital gains.

One of the key accused, Abul Khair, alias Hiru, allegedly laundered nearly Tk 299.04 million with assistance from his wife, Kazi Sadia Hasan, by transferring funds across various channels to obscure their origin.

Investigators also flagged over Tk 5.42 billion in suspicious transactions through 17 bank accounts in his name.

The ACC’s complaint says Shakib invested in shares of Paramount Insurance, Crystal Insurance, and Sonali Paper -- three companies targeted by Khair’s stock manipulation scheme.

“He actively participated in market manipulation and lured ordinary investors into investing in those manipulated shares by deceiving them, withdrawing Tk 295.29 million from the stock market as proceeds of crime under the guise of realised capital gain.”

The SEC had fined Shakib Tk 5 million last September for allegedly manipulating the share price of Paramount Insurance.

At that time, the SEC had fined Abul Khair Tk 250,000, Ishal Communication Limited Tk 750,000, Monarch Mart Limited Tk 100,000, Abul Kalam Madbar Tk 1 million, Lava Electrodes Industries Tk 100,000, and Zahed Tk 100,000.