By AFIQ AZIZ / Pic By MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has recently sued seven individuals for shares manipulation in APL Industries Bhd (APLI), and is seeking court orders for disgorgement and civil penalty of RM1 million each.

SC said in a statement yesterday that all the defendants will also be barred from being directors of any public-listed company and from trading on the stock exchange for five years.

“Ng Wai Hong, a dealer’s representative at Hwang-DBS Securities Bhd, and six others who were acquainted or connected to her, had actively transacted in large volumes of APLI shares between Nov 7 and Nov 9, 2006, causing a surge in the volume and price of APLI,” the statement read.

SC said a Statement of Claim was filed on Sept 21, 2017, stating that Ng was responsible for planning and carrying out the alleged trading of APLI shares on behalf of the rest of the defendants — Lo Ga Lung, Toh Pik Chai, Ling Pik Ngieh, Ng Soo Tian, Chan Kok and Chai Shou Wei.

The other six defendants had in turn allowed their accounts to be used for the said manipulation. The trades carried out by Ng in the accounts of the other six defendants represented 30.36% of the total volume of APLI shares traded. SC claimed that the defendants’ actions had created a misleading appearance of active trading with respect to the market for APLI shares, as well as having the effect of maintaining the price of APLI shares which were in breach of Sections 84 and 85 of the Securities Industry Act 1983 respectively. The disgorgement of all profits obtained will be used to compensate affected investors.