Shore Cap Holdings Limited, a private limited company has brought allegation against a listed steel company's involvement in its placement share forgery.
At a press conference held on Sunday at Dhaka Reporters' Unity, the Shore Cap Holdings Limited alleged the listed steel company S. S. Steel has also not implemented the regulator's 'instruction' earlier issued to 'resolve' the issue.
According to a written speech of Muhammad Mazaharul Islam, the company secretary of Shore Cap Holdings Limited, their company purchased above 9.9 million shares of S. S. Steel in 2015.
"Tk 99.9 million was paid against the placement shares through six cheques of ICB Islamic Bank," Mr. Islam said.
He said in 2017 the S. S. Steel's form-10a, which presents share holding information, included the name of Shore Cap Holdings Limited.
"But in 2018, the Shorecap Holding Limited was mentioned in the company's IPO prospectus instead of Shore Cap Holdings Limited. The address of Shorecap Holdings Limited was kept unchanged for the Shore Cap Holding Limited," Mr Islam alleged.
He said the S. S. Steel then termed the change in company's name as typing 'mistake'.
"On November 1, 2018 a BO account was opened with the Sheltech Brokerage for the Shorecap Holding Limited, which was incorporated in 2019," according to the written allegation of Mr. Islam, the company secretary of Shore Cap Holdings Limited.
Following a writ petition filed by Shore Cap Holdings Limited, the High Court (HC's) issued a stay order on January 15 last on any sale procedure for the said amount of placement shares, Mr Islam said.
Later, the Chamber Judge stayed the HC's order on January 20. "The lawyer of Shore Cap Holdings Limited was not aware of the hearing in the Chamber court," Mr. Islam alleged.
After the press conference, the company secretary of Shore Cap Holdings Limited Mr. Islam could not be reached through his cell phone to make comment further on the matter of the share forgery.
Asked, Javed Opgenhaffen, the chairman of the S. S. Steel, said the allegation brought against them is completely 'false'.
"The shares were allotted two years back. So far no one made allegation of such share forgery. It means that the allegation is completely false," Mr. Javed told the FE.
He refused to make further comment terming the matter 'sub judice'.
Echoing the chairman, Md. Mostafizur Rahman, company secretary at S. S. Steel, said the placement shares were credited into the respective account mentioned in the IPO prospectus.
- S. Steel, presently an 'N' category company, was listed with the stock exchanges in 2019.
The company's sponsor-directors hold 32.33 per cent shares, institutes 28.93 per cent and general public 38.74 per cent as on December 31, 2019.
