Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) today announced that has charged a former substantial shareholder of Maxbiz Corporation Bhd, Datuk Andrew Leong Wye Keong, with four counts of insider trading.
Andrew Leong was charged under section 188(2)(a) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (CMSA) for disposing 2,131,400 units of Maxbiz shares in his son’s account on 30 December 2010, and another 8,100,000 Maxbiz shares in his own account between 30 December 2010 and 18 January 2011, while in possession of inside information.
SC alleged that Andrew Leong had obtained the inside information from Dato’ Vincent Leong Jee Wai, the Managing Director of Maxbiz at the material time. Vincent Leong was earlier charged by SC on 22 May 2017 for communicating inside information to Andrew Leong.
The material non-public information for the first three charges relates to the decrease in Maxbiz’s shareholders’ equity that brought it close to being classified as financially distressed. The material non-public information in the fourth charge concerns the classification of Maxbiz as a Practice Note 17 (PN17) company. Maxbiz was previously listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia before its delisting on 26 March 2012.
Andrew Leong claimed trial today. Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court Judge Zulqarnain Hassan fixed bail at RM600,000 with two sureties.
Insider trading is punishable with an imprisonment term not exceeding 10 years and a fine of not less than RM1 million under the CMSA.