The B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC) is accusing a former resident of violating the public interest by allegedly concealing his ownership stake in an over-the-counter bulletin board (OTCBB) company, and then to selling his shares along with another undisclosed shareholder group.
The BCSC alleges that Alnoor Ramji participated in a scheme to conceal his 16% ownership stake in an OTCBB company, Clean Power Concepts Inc., using friends and relatives to open accounts in jurisdictions that provide secrecy (Belize and Panama); acting along with another group of Belize-based companies to control 34% of the firm; and then selling those shares in coordination with that group after the share price rose in the wake of a PR campaign.
The trading accounts were provided by Gibraltar Global Securities, a Bahamian broker/dealer who was permanently banned from B.C.’s capital markets in November 2012, the BCSC says. Total proceeds of the share sales reached about $21.5 million, and the BCSC says that about $8.3 million of this money was then distributed to accounts in Hong Kong, Switzerland, Belize, and Panama, along with other uses.
BCSC staff are alleging that Ramji, as an insider of Clean Power, breached securities laws by failing to file a report disclosing his beneficial ownership of, or control or direction over, the company’s shares.
The allegations in the case have not been proven. The BCSC will apply to set dates for a hearing into the allegations before a panel of commissioners on Jan. 7, 2014.