Bapepam probes 100 investors and brokers
Bapepam probes 100 investors and brokers
JAKARTA (JP): The Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam)
is investigating around 100 parties consisting of securities
firms, investors and the directors and several executives of the
Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) over the trading of Bank Pikko
shares earlier this month.
An agency executive said yesterday a 10-member special team
was undertaking the investigation.
"The team, set up on April 8, consists entirely of agency
officials," Herwidayatmo, head of the agency's corporate
assessment bureau said yesterday.
But he added the team could not yet disclose its findings.
"The team is not only investigating the JSX directors but all
parties involved in the trading of Bank Pikko," he said.
On Tuesday three JSX directors including president Cyril
Noerhadi, supervision director Edwin Stamboel and trading
director Mas Ahmad Daniri were questioned by the agency.
The agency also questioned several brokerage houses including
Putra Saridaya Persada, Danasakti, Multiperkasa Securitas.
"Putra Saridaya Persada officials were questioned for four
hours," a source who insisted on anonymity said yesterday.
Herwidayatmo said the investigation team sought to ascertain
what generated the 207 percent rise in the Bank Pikko share price
on April 8, the impacts of the trading on the market and whether
the Bank Pikko case had affected the fairness and order of the
market.
On April 8, the price of Bank Pikko shares soared from Rp
1,300 to Rp 4,000 before their trading was suspended.
He said the investigation team was endeavoring to prove if
there had been any intentional cornering of Bank Pikko shares
that day.
"Cornering can take place in a natural manner and it can also
be engineered by certain people," he said.
The agency had hinted that cornering was responsible for the
steep rise in the bank's share price.
However, Herwidayatmo said that the number of parties being
investigated might increase as the directors of Bank Pikko might
also be questioned.
"We have not investigated the management of Bank Pikko yet,
but there is a possibility we might question them in the coming
weeks," he said.
Avi G Dwipayana, the president of Trimegah Securindo who is
also a member of the JSX trading committee said yesterday that
his committee had proposed to the management of JSX to set
clear-cut parameters for suspending the trading of shares.
"An increase or decrease of more than 30 percent in the share
price within a single trading day could be set as a parameter to
trigger trading suspension," he said.
On a previous occasion Cyril said that the exchange could not
yet set up clear-cut guidelines for trading suspension as the
characteristics of the shares for each industry and issuer were
different. (09)