STOCKHOLDERS of Abra Mining and Industrial Corp are seeking a Congressional probe on the continued lack of action from both the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on the serious trading irregularities in the mining stock, which has remained unresolved for more than three years now.
Stockbroker Victor Dominguez sought the Congressional inquiry due to the failure of the SEC and the PSE to formalize charges against the officials of Abra Mining, which sold shares that were unlisted and unregistered led to the suspension on trading of the stock which had accounted for 80 percent of trading from January to February in 2021.
Dominguez, in a radio-TV interview with Aliw TV, said that PSE president Ramon Monzon had admitted in a letter to the MOST law firm, which is representing hundreds of investors in Abra Mining, that the stock exchange had already concluded its investigation into the trading irregularities in Abra Mining that led to its suspension and yet no formal charges have been brought against the erring officials.
Monzon, in his letter-reply to MOST law firm in January last year, acknowledged that the PSE had found out the trading irregularities. MOST law had sent a letter to the PSE as well as to the Philippine Depository Trust Corp regarding the status of the investigation on Abra Mining and the findings made so far.
The law firm said it is representing investors in AR that were left holding the empty bag due to the trading of unlisted shares.
According to Monzon, “the PSE has concluded its investigation and noted serious violations of the Company not only of the PSE Listing and Disclosure Rules but also of the Revised Corporation Code, the gravest being the lodgment and trading of AR shares which are not yet issued and recorded in the books of the Company and for which no subscription payments were received by the Company.”
Monzon specifically cited what he termed the “gravest” travesty of justice that Abra Mining has made against the investors in the market and yet it has not acted on the matter insofar as exercising PSE’s self-regulation organization status is concerned.
Why so? Having found out about the irregularities that occurred two years prior, why has the PSE not moved at all?” Dominguez said.
According to Dominguez, officials of Abra Mining had traded 250 billion shares though there were only 99 billion that were listed, resulting in its suspension and leaving in limbo the hundreds of investors who bought the stock.
The Congressional inquiry is expected to lead to the crafting of legislation that would make it a criminal offense for the PSE or the SEC to drag their feet on matters concerning trading irregularities.