Brokers not to trade scrips held by Nirmal Pradhan from now onward

ShareSansar, February 13:

Taking strong exception to the move of Nirmal Pradhan, who is one of the biggest share investors in the country, to “unlawfully” selling off a large number of shares of Nepal Bangladesh Bank Limited, share Brokers have decided not to trade any scrip he holds from today.

The brokers’ move comes after 2.2 lakh units of ordinary shares of NBB Bank that he had sold back on May 4 last year could not be transferred in the name of those who had bought them.

“We are compelled to take this step after the authorities concerned did not care to initiate action against Pradhan despite the fact that his move is against the laws governing the stock market,” chairman of the Stock Brokers’ Association Narendra Sijapati told ShareSansar today. “As key stakeholders in the market, we, too, have some responsibility toward the welfare of investors as well as the welfare of the market.”

He went on to add that the brokers' decision should be seen as their attempt to pressurize the authorities concerned to address the problem at the earliest as many investors have not been able to collect dividends and benefits they are entiled to because of the problem.

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.

It’s not that the stakeholders did not try to resolve the problem in the past.

Only this week, 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.

“But there was no headway due to Pradhan’s intransigence,” a source said.