The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has decided to share details of 27 pending cases pertaining to insider training and market manipulation with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
Authorities have completed probes into all the cases in question and filed criminal complaints in relevant courts. Earlier, the FIA has requested details of all the pending cases for parallel investigation under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010.
In a statement, the SECP has stressed the referral of the cases does not constitute any accusations against companies who have fallen victim to manipulation or brokerage houses through which trading was undertaken. Rather, it has said, the referrals solely point to person(s) found involved in insider trading and market manipulation, as defined in the Securities Act, 2015.
The SECP said that, in line with its mandate, has been actively investigating cases of insider trading and market manipulation and consequently filing criminal complaints in court of law under the Securities Act, 2015. The FIA, meanwhile, has the mandate to investigate the aspect of money laundering in predicate offences under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010.
Details of the cases pending in court are publicly available and part of judicial record. The details were shared with the FIA under the Anti-Money Laundering (Referral) Rules, 2021.