This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on March 1, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: The Sessions Court yesterday convicted a 67-year-old man on two counts of defrauding Koperasi Pelaburan Pekerja-Pekerja Proton Bhd (Kopro).

Ismail Basir pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one-year imprisonment and a fine of RM1 million, in default six months’ imprisonment, for each charge. The jail term is to run concurrently.

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) charged Ismail on Jan 16 with two charges for securities fraud under section 87A(b) of the Securities Industry Act 1983 and section 179(b) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007.

“The facts of the case show Ismail had defrauded Kopro by representing himself as a remisier at PM Securities Sdn Bhd, when in fact Ismail was never licensed by the SC as a dealer’s representative,” the regulator said in a statement.

“He further misled Kopro that he had opened a share trading account under Kopro’s name at PM Securities and to which a total of RM350,000 was collected by him from Kopro to purportedly purchase Proton Holdings Bhd shares,” it added.

The SC said Ismail gave Kopro fictitious statement of accounts and contract notes to give a false impression that the money was used to purchase the shares, but the money was instead deposited into a share trading account controlled by him and he had made withdrawals for his own benefit.