By GINIKA OKOYE

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says there is no hiding place for violators in the country?s capital market.

The Director-General of SEC, Dr Emomotimi Agama, gave the warning in a notice to operators obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

Agama said in the notice that market operators engaging in unscrupulous activities would not be allowed to go unpunished.

He described investors? protection as a fundamental principle for the commission.

He noted that the Investments and Securities Act (ISA) 2007 clearly outlined the objectives of securities regulation in the country.

According to him, it is important that as a form of self-regulation, they (operators) know beforehand that if you do what is not right, the SEC will bring you out to the wall to say that you do not have character.

?This is because the very ethics of regulating or of registering a securities market operator is in the principle of the fit and proper person?s test.

?A fit and proper person?s test means that you satisfy all of the requirements that have been laid down in the ISA 2007 and in other regulations that the SEC has brought out to make sure that this happens.

?So, clearly for us, it is getting people to understand that there is no hiding place anymore for anybody that has an intention to defraud Nigerians and to defraud anybody that is investing in this market.

?And so what you have been seeing most recently by the revocation of licences, by the suspension of operators, and our follow up to operators that are not registered with the SEC is only a tip of the iceberg as to what we intend to do this year.

?We believe strongly that a protected investor is a powerful investor and we will do everything within the powers of the SEC and the Nigerian law to make sure that we deter unscrupulous persons who are involved in trying to defraud Nigerian investors,? Agama said.

The director-general said SEC was committed to ensuring that all market participants understood the Commission?s responsibilities.

He said compliance and information disclosure were important to capital market operation describing them as the fundamental objectives of securities regulation.

Agama urged both existing and prospective market participants to work closely with the Commission to foster the development of the market. (NAN)

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