2 found guilty of insider trading by MAS
AsiaOne
Tuesday, Dec 04, 2012
SINGAPORE - The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has taken civil penalty enforcement action against Mr Goh Ing Sing and Mr Keu Haw Gee for insider trading.
On Aug 13 2010, Wilmar International Limited (Wilmar) announced its intention to purchase 20 per cent of the share capital of Kencana Agri Limited (Kencana), a company listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd (SGX-ST), at $0.35 per share.
After the release of the announcement, Kencana's share price closed at $0.385, a 10 per cent increase over the preceding day's closing price of $0.35.
Mr Goh, the Group Plantation Head of Wilmar, and Mr Keu, the Plantation Head of Wilmar, were involved in the due diligence exercise conducted by Wilmar on Kencana's plantations, prior to the announcement.
While in possession of non-public price-sensitive information concerning Wilmar's intention to invest in Kencana, Mr Goh and Mr Keu bought 626,000 and 50,000 Kencana shares respectively, on Aug 5 and 6 in 2010.
Their purchases netted, Mr Goh and Mr Keu, profits of approximately $43,000 and $2,000 respectively.
The matter was referred to MAS by SGX-ST.
Mr Goh and Mr Keu have admitted to contravening Section 219(2)(a) of the Securities and Futures Act (SFA) and have paid to MAS civil penalties of $110,000 and $50,000 respectively, without court action.
A civil penalty action is not a criminal action and does not attract criminal sanctions.
The civil penalty regime, designed to complement criminal sanctions and provide a nuanced approach to combat market misconduct, became operational at the beginning of 2004.
The civil penalty may be up to three times the amount of the profit gained or loss avoided by that person as a result of the contravention, subject to a minimum of $50,000 (if the person is not a corporation) or $100,000 (if the person is a corporation).
Where the contravention did not result in the person gaining a profit or avoiding a loss, the civil penalty may be up to $2 million, subject to a minimum of $50,000.
