The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has imposed civil sanctions on Laksana Supsakorn, the chairwoman of Tipco Foods Plc (TIPCO), and her colleague Sommart Dhupchinda for jointly buying shares of a listed company based on insider information.
According to a statement issued by the SEC, Ms Laksana and Mr Sommart, a director of Tipco Power Co, jointly bought shares of Tipco Foods based on inside information that came into their possession, and are ordered to pay a fine of 4.97 million baht.
The regulator received information about the case from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and carried out an investigation.
The SEC found evidence that Ms Laksana, board chairwoman and a director of Tipco Foods and Tipco Asphalt (TASCO), had inside information regarding the positive impact on the share price of TIPCO based on the company's interim dividend payment in 2020 and dividend for the whole of 2020 totalling 0.69 baht per share, which was the highest dividend the company paid in five years.
After learning of this information, Ms Laksana joined Mr Sommart in purchasing shares in Tipco Foods through Mr Sommart's trading account before Tipco Foods formally disclosed this information to the SET on Feb 18, 2021.
"The joint purchase of Tipco shares by both parties based on inside information is an offence under Section 242 [1] of the Securities and Exchange Act, in conjunction with Section 83 of the Criminal Code, which has penalty provisions under Section 296 and 296/2 of the Securities and Exchange Act," said the SEC statement.
The SEC's Civil Sanction Committee resolved to apply civil sanctions to both alleged offenders by stipulating civil fines, requiring them to reimburse an amount equal to the benefits they received, while reimbursing the expenses generated by the SEC in investigating the wrongdoing.
Ms Laksana's fine amounts to 2.49 million baht and she is prohibited from being a director or executive in companies that issue securities, or securities companies, for a period of 14 months.
Mr Sommart is subject to the same fine and prohibited from being a director or executive for a period of 12 months.
The prohibition on director or executive positions is effective from the date on which the offender signs a memorandum of consent to comply with the civil sanctions.
If an alleged offender does not admit guilt and refuses to pay the fine, the SEC plans to send a letter requesting a public prosecutor bring the case to civil court to impose civil sanctions at the maximum rate permitted by law, exceeding the civil sanction fine, according to the regulator.
Civil fines and the reimbursement for benefits received from the offences are remitted to the Finance Ministry, the statement noted.
In a filing to the SET on Wednesday, Tipco chief executive Prasit Akkaranunkorranich said the company has acknowledged the insider trading case against Ms Laksana.
"This issue shall not affect our business operations and we will inform the SET of any progress in the case in due course," he said.