SEC Chief says will resign before Friday

14 August 2012 11:05 am Views - 4557

The head of Sri Lanka's Securities and Exchange Commission said he will resign before Friday after coming under pressure to step down amid accusations by some investors under investigation for "pump-and-dump" deals

"I'll be doing it within the course of this week definitely. Definitely before Friday," Tilak Karunaratne told Reuters.

Karunaratne has called for investigations into market manipulation and malpractice, including so-called pump-and-dump deals in which naive investors are lured into apparently cut-price equities.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed Karunaratne in December after his predecessor, Indrani Sugathadasa, resigned "to uphold her principles" amid broker complaints that tougher regulations were hurting stock market prices.(REUTERS)