Following a referral from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in June 2024 and the SEC’s further investigation, findings and evidence indicated a reasonable ground that the three offenders, namely (1) Miss Piyapach Udomrat, (2) Mr. Wisut Boonkasemsanti, and (3) Mrs. Nawinee Udomrat, had colluded to act for their own benefits or for other people’s benefits in a manner that would likely to affect the mutual fund’s interests. 

From the investigation, Miss Piyapach Udomrat, in her capacity as an employee in the securities dealing unit of an asset management company (at the time of the offense, affiliated with Bualuang Asset Management Co., Ltd.), was a person who knew or possessed information related to mutual fund securities trading, and disclosed the information related to the mutual fund’s orders—of which she was the one placing the mutual fund’s buy-sell orders—to Mr. Wisut. Then, he used this information to place orders to buy or sell securities before Piyapach placed several buy or sell orders for the mutual fund’s trading account during 2023–2024. Nawinee was involved in the financial aspects of these actions.

The misconduct of the persons above constitutes offenses under Section 244/2 in conjunction with Section 244/1 and Section 315 of the Securities and Exchange Act B.E. 2535 (1992) (“SEA”), as the case may be. The SEC has therefore filed the criminal complaints with the ECD for further action. 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.