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Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) today charged three individuals for insider trading offences under section 188 of the Capital Market and Services Act 2007 (CMSA).
Ewe Lay Peng, 45, was charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court with one count of communicating non-public information between 10 December 2007 and 31 December 2007 to Lim Bun Hwa, 41.
Lay Peng and Bun Hwa, at the material time, were both Senior Managers in the Corporate Finance Department of CIMB Investment Bank Bhd. Five charges were also preferred against Bun Hwa’s brother, Lim Boon Cheng, 47, for acquiring 145,000 units of PacificMas Bhd (PacificMas) shares between 18 December 2007 and 31 December 2007 while in possession of material non-public information. Bun Hwa was charged with abetting Boon Cheng in committing the alleged offence.
SC alleged that the material non-public information referred to in the charges were related to the proposed conditional take-over offer by OSPL Holdings Sdn Bhd (OHSB) to acquire all voting shares in PacificMas not already owned by OHSB. The proposed take-over offer was announced to Bursa Malaysia on 4 January 2008.
The charges against Boon Cheng, Bun Hwa and Lay Peng were read out before Sessions Court Judge Tuan Azman Ahmad. All three claimed trial to the respective charges preferred against them.
Boon Cheng was granted bail of RM150,000 with one surety, while Bun Hwa and Lay Peng were each granted bail of RM100,000 with one surety respectively. The court also ordered them to surrender their passports.
The offences carry a penalty of imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years and to a fine of not less than RM1 million.
