Following a referral from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in 2023 and the SEC’s further investigation, the findings and evidence indicated reasonable grounds to believe that two individuals—(1) Mr. Komen Niyomvanich, and (2) Miss Monsicha Ounpipat—had jointly undertaken actions for their own benefits or for the benefits of others in a manner likely to cause damage to a mutual fund. Mr. Komen, in his capacity as a fund manager (at the time of the misconduct working for MFC Asset Management Public Company Limited), was a person who knew or possessed information regarding the trading orders of the fund under his management. He disclosed information concerning the mutual fund’s trading orders to Miss Monsicha, who subsequently placed orders to buy or sell securities and derivatives contracts on multiple occasions before Mr. Komen submitted the corresponding orders to the fund’s securities trading account during 2022. Such conduct constitutes a violation of 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 a criminal complaint with the ECD against the two individuals for further legal proceedings.

Concurrently, the SEC has reported the proceedings above to the AMLO for consideration of further action because such offenses are unfair activities related to securities and derivatives trading, which constitute a predicate offense under the Law on Anti-Money Laundering B.E. 2542 (1999), as amended.    

Following the criminal complaints 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 the progress in the legal proceedings and will cooperate fully with relevant agencies to support legal enforcement under the SEA after the criminal complaint has been filed.