ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top market regulator has filed a criminal complaint against the company secretary of automobile company, four of his close relatives, and a private firm for alleged insider trading that generated illegal gains exceeding Rs338 million.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) announced Thursday that it has formally lodged the complaint — Fraud & Forgery Case 14/2025 — before the Special Court (Offenses in Banks) in Karachi. The court has admitted the case.
According to the SECP, the accused parties used non-public, price-sensitive information about company’s planned share buyback and delisting from the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) to accumulate company shares before the news was made public.
The trades were conducted between August 22 and October 12, 2023, generating illicit profits once the share price spiked following the announcement.
The investigation allegedly revealed that the company secretary, was privy to insider information from August 11, 2023, in his official role overseeing the delisting process. He is accused of sharing this confidential information with his relatives and the CEO of a related company.
The company secretary also allegedly provided funds to his relatives for acquiring the shares of the listed company ahead of a public announcement that drove up prices, then sold them for illegal gains of Rs338 million, the SECP said.
“None of the accused had any history of trading in the company’s shares before this period,” the SECP noted, calling the transactions a clear violation of the Securities Act, 2015. Under the Act, insider trading is a criminal offense punishable by up to three years in prison, a fine of up to Rs200 million, or three times the amount of the illegal gain — whichever is higher.
