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Sri Lanka PM seeks probe into stock market’s insider trading

Thursday, March 19, 2015 – 18:25

Saman Indrajith

The Island/Asia News Network

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has submitted a motion to Secretary General of Parliament seeking the appointment of a Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate whether insider trading and other malpractices have taken place at the Stock Market since 2010.The motion said that serious doubts had arisen regarding the transparency and propriety of share market dealings and it was also reported that certain individuals in high positions in government and elsewhere were responsible for insider trading and similar malpractices.

Those concerns were likely to have an adverse effect on the credibility of stock market transactions and investor confidence would seriously be eroded if no corrective steps were taken and, therefore, a parliamentary select committee should be appointed to investigate and report to the House on: “Whether any recent transactions in the Stock Market from and after the year 2010 are of suspicious or illegal nature, and whether there is evidence of insider trading within the stock market during the said period, and whether there is evidence of any fraud involving government funds, and if so who the individuals responsible for trading and such fraudulent activities are, and whether there is evidence of any other malpractices in the stock market, and if so what these malpractices are, and who the individuals responsible for the malpractices are and whether there is any evidence of complicity by those charged with ensuring compliance with the rules and regulations governing share transactions, and the steps and measures that are necessary to prevent such insider trading and malpractices recurring in the future, and such other matters that the committee in its discretion determines are relevant to this inquiry.”

The committee and its chairman shall be nominated by the Speaker and it shall consist of not more than 21 members.

The committee shall have the power to send for persons, papers and records, may order any person to attend before such committee and to produce any paper, book, record or document in the possession or under the control of such person, verify or otherwise ascertain by oral examination of witnesses upon oath or affirmation which the chairman of the committee or a person specially authorised for that purpose may administer, obtain services of specialists and experts in the relevant fields to assist the committee and make interim reports from time to time and to sit notwithstanding any adjournment of parliament.

The committee shall make its report within one year of the date of its first sitting or such other or further time as parliament may grant, according to the motion.