SC continues to place enforcement as an important priority

KUALA LUMPUR: The Securities Commission (SC) continued to place enforcement as priority and actions taken in 2016 yielded positive results.

The commission, in its 2016 Annual Report released yesterday, said insider trading prosecution made up the largest number of those charged making up 10 out of 17 individuals.

“RM1.79 million was disgorged through civil enforcement action and was restituted to 423 investors.

“Meanwhile, our success in the Repco Holding Bhd’s shares case saw the heaviest punishment meted out by the courts for market manipulation since SC’s inception,” it said. Low Thiam Hock, often dubbed as Repco Low, was sentenced to five years imprisonment and a fine of RM5 million after he was convicted on Jan 11, 2016 for manipulating Repco shares in 1997.

SC has also charged four individuals under section 317A of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (CMSA) for causing wrongful loss to a public-listed company (PLC).

It also applied for an injuction to prevent dissipation of a PLC’s assets arising from a breach of section 317A of CMSA.

“The range of actions taken for breaches of securities laws demonstrates the wide range of enforcement tools available to SC.

“Underscoring these efforts is our mandate to protect investors and maintain market intergrity,” SC said.

It said SC’s enforcement actions include pursuing criminal prosecution for serious market misconduct including insider trading, false and misleading financial statements, causing wrongful loss to PLCs and seeking financial penalties including disgorgement of profits to restitute investors.