According to referrals from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in 2016 – 2017 and the SEC’s further investigation, it was found that the 13 offenders who had relationships with one another, both financially and personally, namely – (1) Mr. Yanyong Intarasongkarw, (2) Mr. Ekkavit Kamontaypa, (3) Mrs. Woranan Lertkulthum, (4) Mr. Panurak Saengaram, (5) Miss Kannida Tangkittrongcharoen, (6) Mr. Koravit Asawakul, (7) Miss Kanchanarath Wongphan, (8) Mr. Suvit Pipatvilaikul, (9) Mrs. Orapin Piputvilaikul, (10) Mr. Phisit Piputvilaikul, (11) Mr. Songkarn Tansiri, (12) Mr. Pakkawan Wongopasi, and (13) Mrs. Maliwan Wongchinsri – jointly executed securities trading orders in a manner that would mislead the public about the prices or volumes of securities trading, and submitted trading orders in a continuous manner with the intention of causing the prices or volumes of securities trading to deviate from normal market conditions, during August - November 2016, with details as follows:
- Case of MAX share price manipulation during 4 – 23 August 2016: A total of 11 offenders, namely (1) Mr. Yanyong, (2) Mr. Ekkavit, (3) Mrs. Woranan, (4) Mr. Panurak, (5) Miss Kannida, (6) Mr. Koravit, (7) Miss Kanchanarath, (8) Mr. Suvit, (9) Mrs. Orapin, (10) Mr. Pakkawan, and (11) Mrs. Maliwan, jointly manipulated the share price, causing it to deviate from normal market conditions. As a result, the price increased from 0.16 baht to 0.21 baht, and the trading volume surged from 5,387.36 million shares to 10,452.76 million shares.
- Case of MAX share price manipulation during 14 – 25 November 2016: A total of 10 offenders, namely (1) Mr. Yanyong, (2) Mr. Ekkavit, (3) Mr. Panurak, (4) Miss Kannida, (5) Mr. Koravit, (6) Miss Kanchanarath, (7) Mr. Suvit, (8) Mr. Phisit, (9) Mr. Pakkawan, and (10) Mrs. Maliwan, jointly manipulated the share price, causing it to deviate from normal market conditions. As a result, the price increased from 0.15 baht to 0.16 baht, and the trading volume surged from 6,445.49 million shares to 9,676.69 million shares.
- Case of EIC share price manipulation during 4 – 26 August 2016: A total of 10 offenders, namely (1) Mr. Yanyong, (2) Mr. Ekkavit, (3) Mr. Panurak, (4) Miss Kannida, (5) Miss Kanchanarath, (6) Mr. Suvit, (7) Mrs. Orapin, (8) Mr. Phisit, (9) Mr. Pakkawan, and (10) Mrs. Maliwan, jointly manipulated the share price, causing it to deviate from normal market conditions. As a result, the price increased from 0.88 baht to 1.34 baht, and the trading volume surged from 631.25 million shares to 1,304.43 million shares.
- Case of EIC share price manipulation during 10 October – 23 November 2016: A total of nine offenders, namely (1) Mr. Yanyong, (2) Mr. Ekkavit, (3) Mr. Panurak, (4) Miss Kannida, (5) Miss Kanchanarath, (6) Mr. Suvit, (7) Mr. Phisit, (8) Mr. Pakkawan, and (9) Mrs. Maliwan, jointly manipulated the share price, causing it to deviate from normal market conditions. As a result, the price increased from 0.97 baht to 1.36 baht, and the trading volume surged from 144.19 million shares to 1,208.98 million shares.
- Case of NEWS share price manipulation during 25 August – 9 September 2016: A total of 10 offenders, namely (1) Mr. Yanyong, (2) Mr. Ekkavit, (3) Mr. Panurak, (4) Miss Kannida, (5) Mr. Koravit, (6) Miss Kanchanarath, (7) Mr. Suvit, (8) Mrs. Orapin, (9) Mr. Pakkawan, and (10) Mrs. Maliwan, jointly manipulated the share price, causing it to deviate from normal market conditions. As a result, the price increased from 0.16 baht to 0.25 baht, and the trading volume surged from 13.43 million shares to 411.70 million shares.
- Case of NEWS-W5 share price manipulation during 25 August – 7 September 2016: A total of nine offenders, namely (1) Mr. Yanyong, (2) Mr. Ekkavit, (3) Mr. Panurak, (4) Miss Kannida, (5) Mr. Koravit, (6) Miss Kanchanarath, (7) Mr. Suvit, (8) Mr. Songkarn, and (9) Mr. Pakkawan, jointly manipulated the share price, causing it to deviate from normal market conditions. As a result, the price increased from 0.04 baht to 0.07 baht, and the trading volume surged from 1.65 million shares to 198.64 million shares.
The actions of the aforementioned individuals constitute offenses related to the manipulation of the share prices of MAX, EIC, NEWS, and NEWS-W5 as specified under Section 243 in conjunction with Section 244 of the Securities and Exchange Act B.E. 2535 (1992) (SEA), in conjunction with Section 83 of the Criminal Code, which are liable to the penalties under Section 296 of the SEA. Currently, the amended SEA (No. 5), B.E. 2559 (2016) specifies such actions as offenses under Section 244/3(1)(2) and Section 244/5, which are liable to the penalties under Section 296, Section 296/1, and Section 296/2 of the amended SEA (No. 5). Additionally, Section 47 of the SEA (No. 5), B.E. 2559 (2016) allows the imposition of civil sanctions on such offenses.
The Civil Sanction Committee (CSC) has resolved to impose civil sanctions on all 13 offenders, requiring them to pay civil penalties as follows: (1) Mr. Yanyong: 4,516,129 baht, (2) Mr. Ekkavit: 5,526,408.50 baht; (3) Mrs. Woranan: 2,249,968.50 baht, (4) Mr. Panurak: 6,783,580.50 baht, (5) Miss Kannida: 6,605,542.50 baht, (6) Mr. Koravit: 2,000,000 baht, (7) Miss Kanchanarath: 4,133,342 baht, (8) Mr. Suvit: 67,104,063.50 baht, (9) Mrs. Orapin: 14,111,276 baht, (10) Mr. Pisit: 5,677,703 baht, (11) Mr. Songkran: 500,000 baht, (12) Mr. Pakawan: 16,760,935 baht, and (13) Mrs. Maliwan: 19,123,591.50 baht.
The civil sanctions, as imposed by the CSC, will take effect when the offenders sign a letter of consent to comply. Otherwise, the SEC will submit the case to the public prosecutor for filing a lawsuit in the Civil Court to seek an imposition of civil sanctions with the maximum applicable statutory penalties, which shall not be lower than the civil sanctions specified by the CSC.
In all cases, the civil penalties from committing the offenses shall be remitted to the Ministry of Finance as public revenue.