KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 9): The Securities Commission (SC) has charged licensed dealer Tiong Kiong Choon, 54, for insider trading of APL Industries Bhd (APLI) shares in 2007, prior to the company's delisting the following year.
The SC has charged Tiong at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court, here today. Tiong was slapped with two separate charges for the alleged offences in October 2007.
On the first charge, Tiong was alleged to have disposed of 2.21 million APLI shares on Oct 26 that year, while possessing privileged information, which would have "a material effect" on the value of the shares.
The SC claimed that Tiong was privy to two sets of information on the finacial condition of APLI — a unit of rubber glove manufacturer Supermax Corp Bhd.
According to the charge sheet, Tiong had earlier known about the "audit adjustment proposed by APLI's auditor, which would result in APLI reporting a higher loss for the financial year ended June 30, 2007 (FY07)."
This compared to the unaudited 4QFY07 results, reported earlier.
The charge sheet also claimed Tiong knew APLI would be classified as a financially-troubled company, under Bursa Malaysia listing rules.
On the second charge, he was accused of disposing of four million APLI shares on Oct 29, 2007, based on the the same information.
Tiong was charged under Section 188(2)(a) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (Act 671) — an offence punishable under 188 (4) of the same Act.
He could face a jail sentence of not more than ten years, and a fine of not less than RM1 million.
Sessions Court judge Abdul Rashid Daud set bail at RM250,000, with one surety.
Abdul Rashid also instructed Tiong to surrender his passport to the court.
The case will be rementioned on Jan 15, 2015.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) T Chelvakumar and Ng Chian Huey represented the SC, while lawyer D Krishna represented Tiong.
According to APLI's statement on Bursa Malaysia's website, the exchange regulator had delisted APLI on Feb 18, 2009.
APLI said Bursa Malaysia had delisted the firm, as APLI had aborted its corporate revamp to rejuvenate its financials.