KUALA LUMPUR: The Court of Appeal has found former Patimas Computers Bhd deputy chairman Datuk Raymond Yap Wee accountable for insider trading.
The ruling is in favour of the Securities Commission (SC).
In its ruling today, justices Datuk Ravinthran N. Paramaguru, Datuk Lim Chong Fong and Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah unanimously rejected Yap's appeal, affirming the High Court's decision that ordered him to pay RM3.28 million in disgorgement to the SC.
"This is equal to three times the losses avoided by Yap as a result of the insider trading.
"The Court of Appeal found that section 201(6) of the CMSA clothes the SC with jurisdiction to file civil proceedings for insider trading breaches under section 188(2) of the CMSA," it said.
The former chairman was also ordered to pay the SC a civil penalty of RM1 million and is barred from being a director of any listed company for five years, starting from the date of the High Court judgment on April 7, 2022.
At the time, Yap had access to material non-public information concerning audit queries and issues tied to suspicious transactions between Patimas and its major debtors.
These matters were brought to light and discussed by Ernst & Young Malaysia, Patimas' external auditor, during a meeting with the company's management.
On July 31, 2012, Patimas' board informed Bursa Malaysia the company could not release its audited financial statements from Jan 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012, due to significant unresolved audit findings and queries.
"The SC views insider trading as a serious breach as it undermines the integrity of the capital market and subsequently erodes investors' confidence in the stock market.
"The SC hopes that the decision of the Court of Appeal today sends a clear message that such breaches will not be tolerated by the SC as well as the courts," the commission sai