Stockholders of Abra Mining and Industrial Corp. (AR) asked Congress to probe the alleged lack of action from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on the unresolved status of the mining stock.
Stockbroker Victor Dominguez sought the Congressional inquiry over the alleged failure of the SEC and the PSE to formalize charges against the executives of Abra Mining which sold shares that were unlisted and unregistered, leading to the suspension on trading of the stock.
Dominguez said the congressional inquiry would 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.
Dominguez said officials of Abra Mining had traded 250 billion shares, although there were only 99 billion that were listed, resulting in its suspension, leaving in a limbo the hundreds of investors who bought the said stock.
Dominguez said in an interview with Aliw TV that PSE president Ramon Monzon had admitted in a letter to the MOST law firm, 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 were brought against Abra Mining officials.
Monzon, in his letter-reply to MOST law firm in January 2023, acknowledged that the PSE found out the trading irregularities. MOST law sent a letter to the PSE and the Philippine Depository Trust Corp on the status of investigation on Abra Mining and the findings made so far.
The law firm said it was representing investors in AR who were left holding the empty bag due to the trading of unlisted shares.
Monzon said, “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 lodgement 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.”
Dominguez said while Monzon cited what he termed the “gravest” travesty of justice that Abra Mining has made against the investors in the market, the local bourse had not acted on the matter in terms of exercising the PSE’s self-regulation organization status.
“Why so? Having found out about the irregularities that occurred two years prior, why has the PSE not moved at all?” Dominguez said.