FEARING a recurrence of rioting by frustrated investors, the head of China's securities watchdog has called for a crackdown on malpractice to ensure the smooth issue of stocks worth five billion yuan (about HK$6.7 billion at the official rate) this year, according to Xinhua (the New China News Agency).
Liu Hongru, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, warned that careful steps should be taken to prevent chaos and corruption in stock issuing procedures.
Mr Liu was speaking at a Beijing conference on ways to solve problems in underwriting share issues.
''The riots in Shenzhen cannot be allowed to recur this year,'' the agency quoted Mr Liu as saying. ''We've made up our minds that we'd rather spend more time and money to guarantee no disturbances occur.'' Mr Liu was referring to violence that erupted last year in Shenzhen, where hundreds of thousands lined up in blistering heat to buy application forms for shares in newly listed companies.
The crowd rioted when they found that some officials had kept the forms themselves instead of selling them to would-be investors.
Mr Liu said China would use fairer means to issue the new shares this year.
