MAS slaps fines on Wilmar's 2 big bosses

It's a hefty penalty of $160,000 in total.

According to OCBC, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has fined two executives from Wilmar for insider trading where both men were involved in the company’s due diligence exercise on Kencana Agri’s plantations.

Here's more from OCBC:

Goh Ing Sing – Head of the company’s Plantation Division and Keu Haw Gee – Plantation Director for Kalimantan and Sumatra were fined S$110k and S$50k respectively.

Wilmar said it takes a serious view of the matter and regrets that it has happened. However, it has decided to retain the services of both men in their respective present capacities, noting that both of them are based in Indonesia and the scope of responsibilities lies in the daily operations of the company’s plantations.

Nevertheless, Wilmar said it will review, reinforce and strengthen the company’s internal controls relating to the handling of non-public material information.

The news is likely to have some negative knee-jerk reaction on the company’s share price, but we do not expect it to have any lasting impact.