A Singapore court has sentenced a man to four months' jail for artificially inflating company's share prices. The accused Mok Piak Liang pleaded guilty to four charges of 13 market misconduct charges under Section 197 of the Securities and Futures Act. The remaining 9 charges were taken into consideration for the sentencing.
Liang's actions in 2014 altered the closing price of gold exploration and mining company Wilton Resources. He manipulated the price between September 24 and November 27, 2014, by buying shares, worth 29.5 million, at the close of trading hours.
A joint investigation by MAS and the Commercial Affairs Department of the Singapore Police Force led to the conviction of the accused.
In a media release on January 22, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said that this occurred on 13 separate trading days.
"The purchases artificially pushed up the price of Wilton shares, with increases ranging between 5.9 percent and 22.8 percent from the previously traded price...The purchases also set the closing price of Wilton shares on all the 13 trading days," said MAS.
The central bank explained that Liang would have had to top up the margin level in his margin accounts within a timeline as specified by the financial institutions if Wilton's share price were to fall below the margin value.
Assistant Managing Director (Capital Markets), MAS, Lee Boon Ngiap said, "MAS takes a serious view on any form of false trading and manipulation. Such conduct disrupts genuine price discovery and undermines the market integrity, and is prohibited under our securities laws. MAS will not hesitate to take action against anyone who engages in such conduct."
