SECP finally gets new chief

ISLAMABAD - At length, the government has paid attention to the apathetic state of the countrys corporate watchdog, courtesy the new Finance Secretary Waqar Masood, as it appointed, Friday, four commissioners including Chairman Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). Lack of attention on part of successive governments had rendered the SECP in a precarious state of affairs, as it had been working with just one commissioner till date after last month completion of former Chairman Salman Sheikhs tenure. According to the SECP Law, the commission shall consist of at least five or at the most seven commissioners. In addition to Chairman Muhammad Ali Ghulam Muhammad Chairman the newly appointed commissioners include Etrit Rizvi, Ashraf Hayat, and Imtiaz Haider. It is pertinent to note here that the newly appointed Chairman SECP remained a broker member of the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) as he was partnered as well as managed affairs of Foundation Securities and Elixir Securities. Thus the question of conflict of interest would arise again as it did when the government intended to appoint Farrukh Khan a former chief executive of another brokerage house as Chairman. Etrit Rizvi has already served with the SECP as Commissioner during the regime of Khalid Mirza as chairman at the beginning of this decade. Ashraf Hayat has just retired as Secretary Planning and Development Division. Lucky bureaucrat has landed at the corporate watchdog to enjoy three-year term of quasi-judicial highly lucrative position of commissioner at the SECP. Imtiaz Haider after serving various financial institutions like the National Investment Trust was working as Managing Director Islamabad Stock Exchange.