ISLAMABAD: The government appointed Farrukh H. Sabzwari chairman of the Securities and Exchange Chairman of Pakistan (SECP) on Thursday after the position had remained vacant for around 18 months.

In a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Federal Cabinet approved his appointment as new chairman of the corporate sector regulator. He will take over the affairs of SECP after a notification is issued by the Ministry of Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs.

Sabzwari is an MBA with more than 25 years of domestic and international professional experience in capital markets. Before joining the regulator, he was serving as the chief executive of BMA Capital Management.

Mr Sabzwari was appointed as Commissioner on Nov 15, along with Amir Khan who was serving as an executive director at the regulator. The other three commissioners at the SECP include Tahir Mahmood, Shaukat Hussain and Shauzab Ali.

The former chairman, Zafar Hijazi, was suspended by the government in July 2017 after the Supreme Court ordered the Federal Investigation Agency to take him under remand for his alleged role in ‘record tampering’.

After his suspension, the interim government appointed Mr Zafar Abdullah as the acting chairman, who was serving as a commissioner at the time.

But the PML-N government appointed two commissioners in March including Shaukat Hussain, SECP’s executive director and the head of corporate compliance department and Shauzab Ali.

Subsequent to that, Mr Shaukat Hussain was appointed as chairman in May replacing Zafar Abdullah — appointed as the acting chairman — who retired in August after completing his term.

However, after the elections, Shaukat Hussain’s appointment as the chairman was criticised by all and sundry and he had to resign in October after rumours suggested that he was likely to be fired by the PTI government.

Following his resignation, Tahir Mahmood – who was the senior most commissioner at the SECP – was appointed as the acting chairman. However, he left the country on a 15-day mandatory leave. During his absence, the Mr Shauzab was appointed as the acting chairman.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2018