Following a referral from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in December 2021 and the SEC’s further investigation, it was found that the two offenders, namely (1) Mr. Suthee Siripornpitak, and (2) Mr. Peeranut Siripornpitak, who is Mr. Suthee Siripornpitak’s son, jointly committed the offense of manipulating the RPC share price during the afternoon trading sessions between 18 and 31 August 2021. Their financial and stock transactions were interconnected, while Mr. Suthee was also authorized to place trade orders in Mr. Peeranut’s securities trading account. During the incident period, Mr. Suthee placed trade orders in Mr. Peeranut’s account in a manner that manipulated the RPC share price, consequently misleading the public about the price or trading volume of the securities – for example, by artificially driving up prices, engaging in intraday profit-taking, dominating bid orders, and setting closing prices. Meanwhile, Mr. Peeranut sold RPC shares in his other trading account in a manner that correlated with the trading activities in the account for which Mr. Suthee was authorized to place price-manipulating orders.  

The actions of these two individuals constitute offenses under Section 244/3(1) in conjunction with Section 244/6(2)(3) of the Securities and Exchange Act B.E. 2535 (1992) (SEA), as the case may be, in conjunction with Section 83 of the Criminal Code, with the penalties prescribed in Section296, Section 296/2, as well as civil sanctions under Section 317/4 and Section 317/5 of the SEA.  

The Civil Sanction Committee (CSC) has therefore resolved to impose civil sanctions on both offenders as follows:  

(1) Mr. Suthee Siripornpitak is required to pay a civil penalty, compensation at an amount equal to the benefits received, and a reimbursement of the investigative expenses incurred by the SEC, totaling 71,016,984 baht. He is also suspended from trading in securities or derivatives contracts for 14 months, and barred from serving as director or executive in securities issuing companies or securities companies for 28 months;  

(2) Mr. Peeranut Siripornpitak is required to pay a civil penalty, compensation at an amount equal to the benefits received, and a reimbursement of the investigative expenses incurred by the SEC, totaling 712,848 baht. He is also suspended from trading in securities or derivatives contracts for 8.5 months, and barred from serving as a director or an executive in securities-issuing companies or securities companies for 17 months. 

The civil sanctions, as imposed by the CSC, will take effect when the offenders sign a letter of consent, agreeing to comply with the civil sanctions. In the event that any offenders refuse to give consent to the sanctions, the SEC will submit the case in writing to the public prosecutor for filing a lawsuit with the Civil Court to seek the maximum applicable civil sanctions, which shall not be lower than those specified by the CSC.    

In all cases, civil penalties and compensation for the benefits received or would have been received from committing offenses shall be remitted to the Ministry of Finance as public revenue.