KUALA LUMPUR: The Securities Commission (SC) has reprimanded and imposed a penalty of RM687,500 on Amran Mohd Amin for three breaches of the securities laws that took effect on June 26.
In a statement, the SC said that Amran had misappropriated RM215,000 from four potential investors for purposes of investments in a unit trust fund with Kenanga Investors Berhad (KIB) between January 2022 and January 2023.
The SC found that Amran had instead utilised the potential investors' funds by depositing them in his own unit trust investment account.
It said that Amran had also provided falsified statements of accounts to two of the four investors, giving a false impression that the investments or purchases of unit trusts were made when no such things happened.
"Amran, who was attached to KIB at the material time as unit trust consultant, committed the following breaches, which attracted administrative sanctions under Section 354(3) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (CMSA)," the SC said.
The SC's findings against Amran were made after due process to him, including the opportunity to respond to the SC on the aforesaid breaches and the SC's decision.
According to the statement, Amran has not filed any review against the SC's decision within the prescribed time provided under the CMSA.
The sanctions imposed against Amran are the latest in the SC's enforcement action against unit trust consultants (UTCs) for misconduct.
Since 2020, the SC has taken administrative actions against nine for misconducts. These include accepting cash and having money credited into their personal bank accounts from investors for purposes of investment in unit trusts, and also providing statements to clients that contained false or misleading information.