The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) issued a clarification on reports about the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) taking up investigations against capital market participants, stating that the SECP has been investigating insider trading and market manipulation and has referred completed cases to the FIA for parallel review under Pakistan’s anti-money laundering framework. Under the Securities Act, 2015, the SECP investigates insider trading and market manipulation and files criminal complaints in the relevant courts, while the FIA investigates money laundering aspects of predicate offences under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010. In response to an FIA request for details of all insider trading and market abuse cases, the SECP shared information on cases where investigations had been completed and criminal complaints had already been filed, including a list of 27 criminal complaints filed since 2008, provided to the FIA in September 2024 under the Anti-Money Laundering (Referral) Rules, 2021. The SECP also noted that such referrals identify the person or persons found involved in insider trading or market manipulation, rather than accusing the issuers whose scrip was traded or the brokerage houses through which trading occurred.

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