The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has imposed a fine on four offenders involving in unauthorised public offerings of securities in 2016.
They are Marnfah Group Co Ltd, Ornpaphat Chantarasaka, Lederer (Thailand) Co Ltd and Kanyakorn Supakarnkachareon.
A SEC inspection found Marnfah Group and its authorised director Ms Ornpaphat solicited the public to invest in the company via social media based on a scheme of a minimum 100,000 baht investment for 12 months to earn a 15% return per year.
The inspection found no takers for this scheme.
In the case of Lederer (Thailand) Co Ltd and its authorised director Ms Kanyakorn, investors were persuaded to invest a minimum of 100,000 baht to earn a 5-7% return over six months. Individuals invested a combined 10 million baht in this scheme.
Both advertised their schemes through social media including Facebook and Instagram.
The companies also promised to repay the principal and generate the guaranteed returns gradually every 30 days until the investment contract expired.
Offering such public securities without approval is in violation of Section 33 of the SEC Act of 1992.
Marnfah Group and Ms Ornpaphat accepted fines valued at 500,000 baht, while Ms Kanyakorn accepted a fine of 1.53 million baht, said the SEC statement.
"But Lederer (Thailand) Co Ltd has not agreed to pay a fine. The SEC has informed the Economic Crime Suppression Division to proceed with the legal process," said the statement.
Separately, the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index yesterday continued its bull run before closing at 1,791.02 points, up by 0.7%, considered an all-time record since the bourse's inception in 1975.
Yesterday's intra-day high of 1,791.39 points was also the high for intra-day trading, eclipsing the previous record of 1,789.16 registered on Jan 5, 1994.
Institutional investors were net buyers of 3.5 billion baht worth of shares, with retail investors net sellers of 2.1 billion. Foreign investors and brokerages sold 1.1 billion baht and 352.1 million, respectively.
Santi Kiranand, SET senior executive vice-president, said positive factors driving the rally include strong fundamentals at both the macro- and microeconomic levels supporting sales and net profit growth of listed companies.
"We cannot say the stock market will return to a golden era. Listed firms are stronger and have greater sustainability as they have been through several financial crises. They have diversified into various businesses and expanded their networks to global markets to reduce risk," he said.
