A shareholder was sentenced to jail for four weeks for the false trading in the shares of Catalist-listed KOP 5I1 Limited under the Securities and Futures Act (SFA).
Tay Ming Hin pleaded guilty to one charge under section 197(1)(b) of the SFA for creating a misleading appearance with respect to the price of KOP’s shares on 79 occasions.
Tay maintained three margin trading accounts between Aug 7, 2018 and Aug 21, 2019, in which the shares of KOP made up the bulk of the collateral pledged by Tay in these accounts.
As KOP’s share price was generally on a downward trend during this period, Tay bought KOP’s shares for the purpose of pushing up the share price in order to avoid margin calls being triggered in his margin trading accounts, according to the MAS.
His purchases caused the closing price of KOP’s shares to be higher than it would otherwise have been on 79 occasions, the report reads.
Tay’s investigation was conducted following a referral from the Singapore Exchange S68 Securities Trading, and carried out by the MAS and commercial affairs department of the Singapore Police Force.
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KOP Limited is a Singaporean holding company with business interests in real estate development, hospitality and entertainment. Tay is listed as the 17th largest shareholder in KOP’s annual report for the FY2024 ended March 31. As at March 31, Tay owns a 0.44% stake in KOP amounting to 4.88 million shares.
As at 4.58pm, shares in KOP Limited are trading flat at 3.1 cents.
