KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here today upheld a conviction against former Repco Holdings Bhd executive chairman Low Thiam Hock for manipulating the company's shares during the 1997 stock market crash.
Judge Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid, however, reduced the jail sentence from the previous five years to one year, but maintained the RM5 million fine imposed by the Sessions Court seven years ago.
The court allowed a stay of execution pending his final appeal at the Court of Appeal.
The 61-year-old accused is currently out on bail of RM1.3 million.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Shoba Venu Gobal prosecuted while counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah appeared for the accused.
On Jan 11, 2016, Low, popularly known as 'Repco Low' in the stock market circle, was found guilty of instructing a dealer's representative of Sime Securities to buy Repco Holdings shares by taking up any offer price of shares by sellers on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE), now known as Bursa Malaysia.
The offence occurred at Sime Securities, 21st floor, Bangunan Sime Bank, 4 Jalan Sultan Sulaiman here, between 11am and 5pm on Dec 3, 1997. He was charged under Section 84(1) of the Securities Industry Act 1983.
He was alleged to have attempted to create a misleading impression of the company's share price on KLSE when the market was then in a downturn.