Following a referral from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in September 2024, and the SEC’s further investigation, evidence indicated a reasonable ground to believe that Jakchai engaged in activities intended to manipulate the price and/or trading volume of PK shares during 10–11 April 2024, TKT shares during 24–25 April 2024, and PROS shares during 10–13 May 2024. His conduct included placing buy and sell orders with the intent of pushing prices upward, placing multiple layers of buy orders in a way that obstructed other investors’ orders, and placing buy orders during pre-opening and pre-closing periods with the intent of pushing up the opening or closing prices.  Such practices misled the public about the prices and/or trading volumes of the securities and caused the prices and/or trading volumes of PK, TKT and PROS shares to deviate from normal market conditions.

Jakchai’s actions constitute violations of Section 244/3 (1) and (2) in conjunction with the presumption under Section 244/5 of the Securities and Exchange Act B.E. 2535 (1992), subject to penalties under Sections 296, 296/1, and 296/2 of the same Act. The SEC has therefore filed the criminal complaint against Jakkrachai with the ECD for further legal proceedings.

In addition, the SEC has notified the AMLO of the matter since the offenses constitute unfair securities trading practices, which are predicate offenses under the Anti-Money Laundering Act B.E. 2542 (1999).

Following the criminal complaint filed by the SEC, the criminal enforcement process will proceed with an investigation by the inquiry official, a prosecution of the public prosecutor, and an adjudication of the court of justice, respectively. In this regard, the SEC will monitor progresses in the legal proceedings and will cooperate fully with relevant agencies to support legal enforcement under the Securities and Exchange Act after the criminal complaint have been filed.