MAS takes civil penalty action against Fuji shareholder

For conducting illegal trades.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced that it has taken civil penalty enforcement action against Mr Oh Kian Guan for contravening Section 201(b) of the Securities and Futures Act (SFA), which prohibits the employment of manipulative and deceptive devices in connection with the subscription, purchase or sale of securities.

The regulatory body revealed that between 1 July 2007 and 31 August 2008, Mr Oh had used securities trading accounts maintained by various persons with a number of brokerages to conduct trades in the shares of Fuji Offset Plates Manufacturing Ltd (Fuji), for his own benefit. Mr Oh’s actions deceived the brokerage houses into believing that the accounts were opened and operated for the benefit of the respective account holders, when the beneficial owner of the trades in the accounts was in fact Mr Oh.

As a substantial shareholder of Fuji, Mr Oh also contravened Section 137 of the SFA, MAS said, in force at the material time, which required substantial shareholders of listed companies to notify the securities exchange of changes in their shareholdings. Mr Oh had also failed to notify the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX-ST) and Fuji of the changes in his deemed shareholdings in Fuji, which took place between 1 July 2007 and 31 August 2008.

MAS said Mr Oh has admitted to contravening Sections 201(b) and 137 of the SFA and paid a civil penalty of $100,000, without court action, in respect of the Section 201(b) contravention; and a composition amount of $18,000 in respect of the Section 137 contraventions.