The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday filed the case with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) court against BD Welding, its Managing Director S Nurul Islam and editor of the weekly, The Industry, Enayat Karim for spreading fictitious and fabricated information claiming a Saudi businessman was to invest in the company.

The false information caused shares in BD Welding, a Z category share on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), to rocket 615 percent in the 10 weeks between January and March, up from Tk 6 to a high of Tk 50. During the period, the normally lightly traded share recorded huge turnover levels, with transaction values reaching more than Tk 17 crore.

The case was filed under section 24 and 25 of the SEC Ordinance, 1969 and under the section 109 of the Bangladesh Penal Code.

An SEC official said if the accused persons proved guilty in the court they will face five years in jail or Tk 5 lakh fine or the both.

Earlier, the SEC in its investigation found that a section of unscrupulous investors had taken away a huge amount of money from the stock market through disseminating that Al Awad Group of Saudi Arabia was to visit BD Welding with the intention of investing in the company and some copies of emails were also sent to the SEC and DSE in this regard.

The information was then published on the DSE website and followed up by several newspapers. But, the SEC investigation found no evidence that Al Awad Group exists. Rather the team found that the email correspondences were conducted from within the country not from abroad or from the Al Awad Group in Saudi Arabia.