Stock investors whose funds were siphoned off by Tamha Securities blame the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Central Depository Bangladesh Ltd (CDBL) for the loss of their funds.

Last December, the country's premier bourse suspended stock trading through the brokerage firm on receiving allegations of it embezzling investors' money.

The stock brokerage house used a duplicate software for embezzling investors' funds, said Fokhrul Islam, an investor representing the victims, during a press briefing at the Capital Market Journalists' Forum yesterday.

 "With the duplicate software, the broker had sent fake SMS and emails, so we did not realise that the owners of the brokerage firm had embezzled our fund," he said.

"Imagine how bad the DSE's monitoring system is that it failed to track the forgery of its broker," he said.

If the DSE puts emphasis on closely monitoring their activities, none will dare to embezzle investors' hard-earned money, he said.

The owners of the brokerage house embezzled around Tk 100 crore of investors' money, Islam said.

Investors get an SMS notification from Central Depository Bangladesh whenever a trade takes place. The victims alleged that they did not get any such notification during the embezzlement.

 "How can the Central Depository Bangladesh change the mobile number without our knowledge?" he said.

 "If the depository company had not changed the mobile number, we could have traced the sales of our stocks by the owners of the brokerage firm," he said in front of dozens of investors who had lost their money present at the event.

 "We invested our hard-earned money and lost all for the forgery of the owners of the brokerage firm," he said.

 "So, the stock market regulator should take steps so that we can get return of the funds fast," he said, adding that his family had fallen into peril for this.

 "If we lose our money for dishonest brokerage owners, it will impact the whole market," he said.

Central Depository Bangladesh Managing Director and CEO Shuvra Kanti Choudhury told The Daily Star yesterday that brokerage firms usually informed of any changes to mobile numbers and email addresses of investors.

On the other hand, when any mobile number or email address is changed, messages are subsequently sent to both the new and old mobile numbers and email addresses, he said.

So, it is not right to blame Central Depository Bangladesh, he added.

About the blame, DSE Chief Operating Officer Shaifur Rahman Mazumdar said the bourse has already strengthened its monitoring systems.

But brokerage firms have the primary responsibility of safeguarding investors' fund, he said.

"We are making a separate guideline for the use of software by brokerage firms for trading stocks so that none can siphon-off investors' funds," he added.