SEC needs efficient personnel

“All possible measures should be taken to protect and safeguard the interests of investors in the stock market,” said Dilith Jayaweera who is a big investor.

He was addressing the media on the presentation he made to President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the Colombo Stock Market.

He said that he used the opportunity of presenting his company’s views to the President to uphold the interest of investors who are being affected by the current crisis in the stock market.

“I did not have any other intention except to present the correct picture of the current status of the stock market. Some sections of the media make inferences to create a wrong opinion of the organisation,” Jayaweera said. He said the media has played a major role in the economic affairs of the country. A vibrant regulator is vital for the stock market which is a major contributor to economic growth.

“All investigations on investors should be expedited without delay and the culprits should be brought to book,” Jayaweera said. Media reports stated that around 17 investors were being investigated for market manipulation.A certain website had published a list of investors who are alleged to have been manipulating the CSE using influence and exerting pressure on the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to step down.

SEC Chairman Tilak Karunarane resigned last Friday, a few months after his predecessor stepped down, as investigations on questionable transactions were drawing to a close. Karunaratne was quoted in certain media reports as saying that he was repeatedly asked to ‘go slow’ on certain probes, but that he had refused.

Several large investors, dubbed as the ‘stock market mafia’, had pumped up fundamentally weak stocks and dumped them, which were bought by small investors and state funds at a time when excess liquidity and cheap credit made it possible to get margin loans easily.

Jayaweera said that efficient and active personnel were required to support the SEC chief.