Tuesday February 13, 2007
Ex-Impetus boss acquitted
By M. MAGESWARI
KUALA LUMPUR: Businessman Ivan Ng Chong Yeng was acquitted and discharged of stock market manipulation through 153 central depository securities (CDS) accounts.Ng, 41, was said to have created a misleading appearance with respect to the price of Suremax Group Bhd shares on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia through the sale and purchase of its shares via the CDS accounts, which caused the stock price to rise.
He also pleaded not guilty to an alternative charge of creating a misleading appearance of active trading of Suremax shares by being indirectly involved in the sale and purchase of Suremax stock that did not cause any change in the beneficial ownership of the said shares, executed through the same CDS accounts.
He was accused of committing the offences at Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd in Exchange Square, Bukit Kewangan, between Nov 24, 2004 and March 22, 2005.
Ng, who was then group chairman of Impetus Consolidated Sdn Bhd, had on Oct 25, 2005 claimed trial to both charges.
Sessions Court judge Akhtar Tahir acquitted Ng yesterday after DPP Ros Mawar Rozain told him that the prosecution wanted to withdraw the charges against him.
In the same court later, former Impetus group executive director Datuk Philip Wong Chee Kheong, 45, and Impetus executive director Francis Bun Lit Chun, 37, claimed trial to an amended charge of creating a misleading appearance in a similar manner during the same period.
The two also pleaded not guilty to an amended alternative charge of creating a misleading appearance of active trading of Suremax shares on a stock market involving nine CDS accounts.
Impetus is an investment holding company while Suremax is a property development and construction firm.
This was said to be one of the biggest cases of market manipulation in Malaysia as it had involved the highest number of CDS accounts at 12 stock broking firms.
If found guilty, they can be fined a minimum of RM1mil and jailed up to 10 years under the Securities Industry Act 1983.
The court then sat for a hearing of the case for the remaining two accused later yesterday.
Lawyer Gobind Singh Deo appeared for Wong, counsel Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin represented Ng and lawyer Hasnan Hamzah for Bun.
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