The Court of Appeal has dismissed Mr Andrew Left’s application for leave to appeal against the determination of the Market Misconduct Tribunal (MMT) on questions of fact (Notes 1 & 2).
The Court of Appeal said that Left’s application was made out of time, and that, even if the application were within time, it had no reasonable prospects of success and was wholly without merit.
On 26 August 2016, the MMT found Left culpable of disclosing false and/or misleading information inducing transactions under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) by publishing a research report on Evergrande Real Estate Group Limited in June 2012.
The Court of Appeal rejected Left’s contention that there was no evidential basis for the MMT to find that Left was aware of the risk that the allegations in the research report were false or misleading as to material facts and that the risk was of such substance it was unreasonable to ignore it.
It also rejected the contention that the MMT erred in finding that Left must have been aware that his analysis and logic required expertise in accountancy regulation and standards.
Left was ordered to pay the SFC’s costs.
Notes:
- For further details of the MMT proceedings, please see the SFC’s press releases dated 22 December 2014, 19 March 2015, 2 November 2015, 26 August 2016 and 20 October 2016.
- Left has also filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal against the MMT finding on points of law under section 266(1)(a) of SFO. This will be dealt with by the Court separately.
