The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a criminal complaint on Monday with the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) against Rich Asia Steel executive Angkakarn Tantiviroon and two former executives of United Securities for Rich share manipulation.
The two were Porntep Thawornwisuthikul and Arada Lertpinyopap. Three others who faced a similar allegation earlier reached a settlement. They were Somdaj Leeswadtrakul, former deputy commerce minister Suriya Lapvisuthisin and Sun Dongvanpakdee.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand referred the SEC to irregular trading in Rich shares by a group from May 10 to July 31, 2007. The SEC found Mr Angkakarn, Mr Porntep, Ms Arada, Mr Somdaj and Mr Suriya colluded to trade Rich shares in concealment through 15 related persons' securities trading accounts. They traded Rich shares on a continual basis and matched orders within the group to mislead the public on the share trading values and volumes, inconsistent with normal market conditions. The group who settled on Jan 22, 2014 admitted to aiding or abetting the aforesaid actions by allowing others to use their trading accounts.
The other three declined to enter a settlement procedure or pay fines as ordered by the Settlement Committee.
An SEC probe found Mr Angkakarn as having untrustworthy characteristics for a publicly held company director and executive, while Mr Porntep and Ms Arada were deemed to have prohibited characteristics for capital market personnel and untrustworthy characteristics for a publicly held company director and executive.
Previously, Mr Porntep and Ms Arada were named in a share manipulation criminal complaint of Metro Star Property, Thai Unique Coil Center, and S.E.C. Auto Sales and Services.