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KUALA LUMPUR: The Supreme Court acquitted the former managing director of Supermax Corp Bhd Datuk Seri Stanley Thai of insider trading in connection with the shares of APL Industries Bhd (APLI).
Judicial Commissioner Azhar Abdul Hamid issued the exoneration and acquittal order after allowing the appeal of Thai, whose real name is Thai Kim Sim, after ruling that the sentence was not certain.
He also acquitted former remisier Tiong Kiong Choon, who was charged along with Thai.
“After hearing submissions from both parties, the court determined that the sentence is not secure.
“Therefore the conviction and sentence are set aside,” he said here on Tuesday (September 29).
The court also ordered that the fines imposed be returned to the defendant.
DPP Mohd Hafiz Mohd Yusof of the Securities Commission appeared for the indictment, while attorneys Shamsul Sulaiman and Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden represented Thai and Tiong respectively.
On November 24, 2017, Thai was sentenced to five years in prison and fined RM5 thousand for insider trading, while Tiong was imprisoned for five years and fined RM10 thousand.
They were charged with insider trading in December 2014.
Thai was convicted of communicating non-public information between October 25 and 29, 2007 to Tiong.
Tiong was convicted of two counts of disposing of a total of 6,208,500 APLI shares while in possession of the same non-public information through accounts belonging to his mother-in-law and mother.
At the time of the commission of the crime, Tiong was also a licensed intraday trader in a brokerage firm.
It was the first time that the courts handed down a prison sentence for insider trading after a trial.
Insider trading offenses, under article 188 of the Capital Markets and Services Act of 2007, carry a mandatory prison sentence not to exceed 10 years and a fine of not less than RM1 thousand.
APLI, a manufacturer of rubber gloves that was delisted by Bursa Malaysia in February 2009, used to be a 14.09% associate of Supermax.
Supermax became its substantial shareholder in February 2005 by acquiring a 12.95% stake.
Subsequently, Supermax decided to end its investment in APLI, which consists of 49.98 million shares, making a total cancellation for a total of RM16.69 thousand.
Thai retired from his position as APLI’s CEO and Managing Director in December 2008.
According to the Securities Commission, the non-public information reported by Thai to Tiong related to the audit adjustments proposed by APLI’s auditors, which resulted in APLI reporting a larger loss for the financial year ended June 30, 2007 , compared to the previously unaudited report Fourth Quarter Results of the same fiscal year, and that APLI would be classified as a PN 17 company.
APLI made announcements to Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd regarding the audit adjustments and its classification as a PN 17 company on October 31, 2007.
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