After rejecting Nirmal Pradhan, brokers not to trade any NBB and NHPC scrip
ShareSansar, February 16:
Irked by Nirmal Pradhan, who is one of the biggest share investors in the country, who “unlawfully” sold a large number of shares of Nepal Bangladesh Bank Limited, share brokers have now decided not to trade any scrip of the bank and National Hydropower Company Limited from now onward.
Last week the brokers had decided to stop trading on behalf of Pradhan and one Shankar Kumar Shrestha, taking strong exception to Pradhan’s move to sell 2.2 lakh units of ordinary shares of NBB back on May 4 last year as the scrips could not be transferred in the name of those who had bought them.
Pradhan and his family members hold a lot of shares of these companies, according to sources.
The Stock Brokers’ Association officials said that the move is aimed at pressing the authorities concerned to address the problem stemming from Pradhan and Shrestha’s move as a lot of shareholders have been affected and could be affected in future due to their move to sell the shares, which could not be transferred in the names of those who bought it from them.
It’s not that the stakeholders did not try to resolve the problem in the past. Even today, Nepal Investors’ Forum had brought all the stakeholders, including officials with Nepal Stock Exchange Limited, Brokers’ Association and the concerned bank, together to find an amicable solution to the problem.
“As there was no headway we have decided to halt trading all the scrips of NBB and NHPC from now onward till the matter is addressed,” a broker source involved in today’s meeting said.
The investors who bought the shares registered in the names of Pradhan and Shankar Shrestha came to realize the trouble they have got into after the Kathmandu District Court ordered that the ownership of the scrips should be kept “as it is”.
The problem is Pradhan and Shrestha claim that they bought the shares from the former promoter of the bank Laxmi Bahadur Shrestha. But Laxmi Bahadur, who went on to move the case at the district court against Pradhan’s move to sell the shares, claim that he had only sought share loan from Pradhan, keeping the shares as collateral.
