The High Court yesterday directed the then three high officials of Chittagong Cement and Clinker and Grinding Company to surrender before the trial court concerned in connection with a case filed for the 1996 share market scam.

The three people -- Abu Tayeb, AS Shahudul Huque Bulbul and Rakibur Rahman -- were acquitted by a special tribunal in the case on May 31 last year on the ground that there was no sufficient evidence against them.

They will have to surrender before the same tribunal in seven days after receiving the HC order.

Yesterday, the HC issued a rule asking the authorities concerned of the government why the trial court verdict of acquittal should not be scrapped.

The HC, however, asked the lower court concerned to consider bail if the accused pray for it after surrendering in the case, Deputy Attorney General Md Khurshidul Alam told The Daily Star.

The bench of Justice Md Rezaul Haque and Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar passed order after hearing a petition filed by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission for scrapping the lower court verdict that acquitted the three accused from the share scandal charges.

The BSEC, which had filed the case against the accused in 1997 for manipulating the share market prices in 1996, filed the petition with the HC recently on March 25 this year against the special tribunal's verdict.

The share price index of the DSE reportedly rose as high as 3,648.75 points on November 5, 1996. The following day, it started falling and came down to 462 points in May 1999.

The share prices of listed companies soared abnormally, even by several hundred times, before the crash, which left millions of investors penniless.

After the crash, the then Awami League-led government formed a probe committee on December 26, 1996, headed by the then Jahangirnagar University Vice Chancellor Aminul Islam.

The committee submitted its report to the government on March 27, 1997, identifying a number of companies and some of the country's biggest brokers and influential individuals to be involved in market manipulation.