KUALA LUMPUR: Two more individuals have been charged by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) for insider trading of TH Group Bhd shares.

The two charged were Ang Pok Hong, 50, and her niece Wendy Wong Soon Soon, 39, according to a statement by the SC yesterday.

The latest charge by the SC follows the charges against five individuals on Jan 29, 2015, including TH Group founder and managing director Lei Lin Thai, for insider trading of TH Group shares.

Ang was charged in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court for acquiring 204,000 units of TH Group shares between Sept 22 and Sept 25, 2008, while in possession of material non-public information.

The SC alleged the material non-public information referred to in all the charges is related to the proposed privatisation of TH Group via a selective capital repayment exercise announced on Sept 29, 2008.

Ang, who faces a total of four charges, is said to have acquired the TH Group shares through her own account, and also the account of Wong.

Wong was charged with abetting Ang, by allowing her trading account to be used by Ang for the purpose of acquiring the said shares.

Ang and Wong claimed trial to the charge preferred. Sessions Court judge Tuan Mat Ghani Abdullah set bail at RM300,000 for Ang and RM100,000 for Wong, respectively.

The mentioned date for the cases has been fixed on March 3, and trial is set to begin on June 8.

Insider trading is an offence under Section 188(2) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007, punishable by a jail term not exceeding 10 years and a fine of not less than RM1 million.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on February 6, 2015.