Chairman Securities and Exchange Policy Board (Policy Board), Khalid Mirza Tuesday strongly condemned the raid of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) at the head office of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) for taking record pertaining to a bank. In a statement issued from the US, Khalid Mirza categorically stated that the SECP must go to the court against this illegal action of the FIA. It is a criminal action of the FIA against the SECP. The SECP Act gives protection to the Commission and it is almost a criminal act under the said Act.
Strongly criticising the raid, head of the SECP Policy Board stated, "Such practice may be justified for those entities that may hide records or facts, but conducting a midnight raid at a regulatory body was an illegal act by the FIA - will FIA or NAB conduct a midnight raid at any court or a ministry?"
Currently, the chairman SECP Policy Board is in the US on a personal visit. He also said that the Policy Board will conduct its own inquiry into the matter.
"I am not for protecting corrupt elements or corruption in any form but all the activities of SECP are regulated and documented. Such acts by any investigation agency will eventually lead to lowering the stature of SECP in the eyes of corporate sector and other entities regulated by the Commission," said Mirza.
He also referred to the FIA raid details at SECP head office on the night of December 26 and said that the agency''s armed staff ''pondered'' for more than one hour only to show their lack of understanding, but all the relevant documents were given by the SECP officials who arrived around one hour after the raid as they were informed by the SECP security staff.
Mirza said that FIA, NAB or any other institution could have obtained all the required documents simply by making an official demand.
"I will write to the SECP that they too should have their prestige and not allow any agency to get into the office this way, besides I will also write to the (finance) minister that lowering the stature of SECP or any other regulator will not benefit the ongoing fight against corruption," he added.
Mirza also spoke about the JIT report where it was alleged that the SECP official did not protect the minority shareholders at the time of mergers of banks.
"I do not contest the understanding of those who placed this observation in the JIT report, but usually people know that all bank mergers are approved by the central bank - not the SECP. The SECP followed in line with law and approved merger," he said.
Mirza added that there are legal ways to move forward, seek information and correct the wrongdoings but creating hype and an environment of disrespect for institutions is not correct.