The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) on Wednesday filed criminal complaints against four including sponsors and brokerage house management for manipulating Pakistan stock prices, the commission said in a statement.

“The accused gained significant profits by manipulating the share prices of three listed companies in 2019, 2020, and 2021. The SECP reached these conclusions after completing thorough investigations under the Securities Act of 2015, it added.

According to the SECP, the suspects placed high-priced orders and traded with one another to artificially raise the share prices of specific stocks.

“They also placed fake buy orders and then cancelled a large number of these transactions, resulting in fictitious quotations to deceive potential investors,” the commission said.

The accused also fraudulently misused clients’ accounts to place large orders in an attempt to attract the public by creating a false sense of demand for the shares, it added.

As per the ECP, market manipulation, being a criminal offense, may lead to imprisonment up to three years and a fine of up to Rs200 million.