MAS obtains civil penalty default judgment against man for insider trading of Oceanus shares
FILE PHOTO: A view of the Monetary Authority of Singapore's headquarters in Singapore June 28, 2017. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside
SINGAPORE: The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced on Thursday (Jan 27) that it has obtained a civil penalty judgment of S$164,750 against a man for insider trading of shares in Oceanus Group.
The default judgment against Mr Liao Chun-Te was obtained by MAS on Oct 26 last year after he failed to make an appearance in court, said the authority in a media release.
Mr Liao, a foreign national, had sold shares in Oceanus Group “while in possession of non-public and materially price-sensitive information concerning a proposed rights issue” by the company.
Oceanus, which is listed on the Singapore Exchange, had on Jun 7, 2013 announced a rights issue of new ordinary shares.
The issue price of S$0.029 per rights share represented a discount of about 42 per cent to the closing price per ordinary share on Jun 6, 2013.
Related:
“Before the announcement, Mr Liao had provided an irrevocable undertaking to Oceanus to subscribe for the rights shares under the rights issue, with knowledge that the rights shares would be issued at a discount,” said MAS.
Armed with this “non-public and price-sensitive information”, Mr Liao sold 6 million Oceanus shares on three separate occasions, avoiding a loss of about S$65,900.
MAS began the civil penalty action under the Securities and Futures Act against Mr Liao for insider trading and served court papers while he was overseas.
A civil penalty action is not a criminal action and does not attract criminal sanctions, said the authority. It is designed to complement criminal sanctions and provide “a nuanced approach to combat market misconduct”.
Following which, the court may order the payment of a civil penalty of a sum not exceeding the greater of the following:
- Three times the amount of the profit gained or loss avoided by that person, or
- S$2 million, subject to a minimum of S$100,000 (if the person is a corporation) or S$50,000 (if the person is not a corporation).
