The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proceeded with a civil lawsuit against 25 individuals on grounds of share price manipulation, seeking a civil fine amounting to 890 million baht.
Based on a Stock Exchange of Thailand probe, the SEC said between Dec 12, 2013 and March 24, 2015, 25 people acknowledged there reciprocated securities trading of six securities happened in a concealed or continuous manner, but did not admit to any wrongdoing. As no one accepted responsibility, the SEC is filing a lawsuit.
The reciprocated trading caused share prices and trading volume of these six securities to be misaligned with regular trading volume in the stock market, with the purpose of enticing others to purchase or sell these securities, said the SEC statement.
Victoria's Secret proprietor Kamphol Veerathepsuporn, who is a fugitive charged with human trafficking, is named among the 25 wrongdoers. Pakaone Vongopasee, who holds a 3.25% share in News Network Corporation Plc (News), is also named.
The six securities are identified as share prices of News, Polaris Capital Plc, Millcon Steel Plc, Nationa Broadcasting Corporation Plc, and Nation International Edutainment Plc (Nine) with creating the price of warrants to purchase ordinary shares in Nine.
"The actions of these 25 persons are a procedural process where they have both financial and personal relationships. This also includes sending trading orders in a manner to push up share prices or sustain the prices continuously over several periods," said the statement.
"The actions also constitute concealment of relationships and trading orders."
The SEC has also forwarded its report to the Anti-Money Laundering Office for further action.
Separately, Chao Phaya Insurance Plc said the company can still service its customers in terms of insurance claims after the Office of the Insurance Commission (OIC) recently ordered the company to temporarily suspend selling policies to new customers after it failed to maintain the required capital adequacy ratio.
Olarn Kijjawut, a human resource staff member at Chao Phaya Insurance, said the company still operates under the OIC's supervision and the company had increased its capital over the past several years, planning a further capital increase to strengthen its business.
But Mr Olarn declined to provide additional details on the current capital adequacy (CAR) ratio.
The Bangkok Post contacted the company's management, but no response was forthcoming.
Apart from capital issues, the company's liabilities exceeded assets and its balance sheet, financial statement and operating results were not always accurate.
"The company hid facts about its financial position or operations by underbooking liabilities from reinsurance and allowances for claims, resulting in the OIC not being able to know its actual financial position and not being assured the company can repay its obligations to the insured or the public," read the order signed by OIC president Suthiphon Thaveechaiyagarn.
