PM orders immediate removal of SECP chairman

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to remove chairman Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Shaukat Hussain Abbasi, over his illegal appointment.

Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered immediate removal  of Abbasi as SECP chief and approved the notification in this regard.

Abbasi was given promotion thrice in four months while investigation also proved that his appointment was made in violation of the rules by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government.

It is also reported that the SECP chairman had provided false information to protect Sharifs in the Panama Papers case.

The government has also decided in principle to hold inquiry against close aides of Shaukat Hussain Abbasi.

In May this year, the appointment of Shaukat Hussain as chairman SECP was also challenged in the Lahore High Court. The petitioner pleaded the court to reverse the allegedly unconstitutional and illegal selection by the PML-N government, saying that the decision is based on favouritism and violated transparency.

The writ petition was filed in the provincial court under Article 199 of the Constitution as public interest litigation. The previous government had appointed Hussain as the SECP chairman for three years by taking cabinet approval through circulation of the summary.

“The appointment of Shaukat Hussain as chairman is illegal, without jurisdiction, based on favoritism and nepotism, violation of transparency and level playing field and deviation from the settled law by the Superior Court,” stated the petitioner.

The petitioner has further pleaded that the decision was also in violation of the provisions of the SECP Act whereby he has been purely selected on liking and his political relationship especially with Ishaq Dar, the former finance minister.