Stock Exchange crash scam referred to house committee

ISLAMABAD : Speaker National Assembly Friday referred the 2005 Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) scam, in which small investors lost Rs 700 billion, to house standing committee on finance. The decision of the speaker was received by the members by thumping of desks.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar responding to a point of order by Ayaz Sadiq said, it was very unfortunate that small investors were deprived of their earnings in a scam which the previous government tried to cover up.
He said 11.6 billion dollars were lost which come to Rs 700 billion, when the stock exchange crashed in 2005.
“The scam involved many big names,” he added.
Quoting the report of a US forensic team hired by the former government to investigate the scam, Dar said it found wrong doings (in the stock exchange) by a significant number of brokers.
“The authorities at the time in order to save themselves hired the American firm,” he said, adding that Pakistani task force formed to investigate also pointed out the culprits.
However, Dar said, the government took the plea that they did not have the back-up data of the stock exchange.
He said since it is not a small scam and the investigation reports are also available, therefore it should be referred to the finance committee.