The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proceeded with a lawsuit against a former director of Inter Far East Energy Corporation Plc (IFEC) for insider trading.
The SEC filed the lawsuit with the Civil Court, requesting the court impose the highest civil penalty against Thanawat Chansuwan. The commission also reported the case to the Anti-Money Laundering Office for its consideration.
In August, the Civil Penalty Committee granted permission for the SEC to impose a civil sanction against Mr Thanawat and former IFEC chief executive Suphanan Rittiphairoj via civil fines and an order to return total benefits worth a combined 25.86 million baht.
The SEC's investigation found both Mr Suphanan and Mr Thanawat attended the company's board of directors meeting on Nov 1, 2016 and acknowledged how IFEC lacked sufficient financial liquidity to repay its debt obligation for bills of exchange coming due at year-end 2016.
Mr Suphanan and Mr Thanawat subsequently used insider information to sell IFEC shares through their own securities trading accounts in the amount of 10.15 million and 978,000 shares, respectively, in order to avoid losses incurred from a decline in share price following the company's liquidity problem and debt repayment.
Mr Suphanan was recently dismissed from his position by the SEC on grounds of insider trading and refusal to acknowledge a civil sanction.
Mr Thanawat has acknowledged such civil sanction in person, but he refused to pay a civil fine by the stipulated date. The SEC has sent a letter to the prosecutor to proceed with a lawsuit against Mr Thanawat and ask the Civil Court to impose a fine and return total benefits from the committed wrongdoing worth a combined 4.16 million baht.
The SEC said because Mr Thanawat has been penalised by a civil sanction, he lacks credibility as a director or executive of a listed company or a securities-issuing company. The regulator has barred him from being a director or executive of any listed company or securities-issuing company for one year.
Disputes between IFEC shareholders became public in late 2014. IFEC's stock has been flagged with a suspension symbol (SP) since December 2016.
Some members on IFEC's board of directors have continued to block scheduling a shareholders' meeting, leading investors to take matters into their own hands.