Following a referral from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in December 2021 and the SEC’s further investigation, the findings and evidence indicated that during 17 May – 12 July 2021, the four offenders, namely (1) Mr. Susitak Achariyasombat, (2) Mr. Tawee Aroonpornwong, (3) Mr. Peerasak Khanom, and (4) Miss Yuwadee Wachiraprapa, were interconnected through personal relationships and jointly traded STAR shares in a coordinated and mutually supportive manner to manipulate the price or trading volume of STAR shares. Their conduct included alternately entering buy orders to drive up the price and continuously taking outstanding offers, maintaining bids at multiple price levels, and controlling the closing price on certain days. Such conduct constituted jointly manipulating the price or trading volume of STAR shares by jointly placing orders to buy or sell securities, or buying or selling securities, in a manner that caused the general public to be misled about the price or trading volume of the securities, and by jointly placing orders to buy or sell securities, or buying or selling securities, on a continuous basis with the intent to cause the price or trading volume of the securities to be inconsistent with normal market conditions.

The actions of the aforesaid four offenders constituted the offense of jointly manipulating the price of securities under Section 244/3(1) and (2), in conjunction with Section 244/5(4) and (5), of the Securities and Exchange Act B.E. 2535 (1992) (SEA), in conjunction with Section 83 of the Criminal Code, and are subject to penalties under Section 296, Section 296/1, and Section 296/2 of the SEA.

The Civil Sanctions Committee (CSC) resolved to impose civil sanctions* on all four offenders by prescribing the following civil sanctions:

(1) Mr. Susitak shall pay a civil penalty, a compensation equal to the benefit received or should have been received, and a reimbursement of investigative expenses incurred by the SEC, totaling 5,181,490.13 baht. In addition, he shall be suspended from trading securities or derivatives for 6 months and barred from serving as a director or executive in a securities issuing company or a securities company for 12 months.

(2) Mr. Tawee shall pay a civil penalty, a compensation equal to the benefit received or should have been received, and a reimbursement of investigative expenses incurred by the SEC, totaling 2,942,292.38 baht. In addition, he shall be suspended from trading securities or derivatives for 6 months and barred from serving as a director or executive in a securities issuing company or a securities company for 12 months.

(3) Mr. Peerasak shall pay a civil penalty, a compensation equal to the benefit received or should have been received, and a reimbursement of investigative expenses incurred by the SEC, totaling 861,390.88 baht. In addition, he shall be suspended from trading securities or derivatives for 6 months and barred from serving as a director or executive in a securities issuing company or a securities company for 12 months.

(4) Miss Yuwadee shall pay a civil penalty, a compensation equal to the benefit received or should have been received, and a reimbursement of investigative expenses incurred by the SEC, totaling 1,011,993.88 baht. In addition, she shall be suspended from trading securities or derivatives for 6 months and barred from serving as a director or executive in a securities issuing company or a securities company for 12 months.

The civil sanctions prescribed by the CSC, namely the periods of suspension from trading securities or derivatives and the bar from serving as a director or executive as mentioned above, will take effect as specified in the letter of consent to comply with the civil sanctions prescribed by the CSC. If the offender refuses to extinguish the case, the SEC will request the public prosecutor to file a lawsuit in the Civil Court seeking the imposition of civil sanctions at the maximum rates provided by law, provided that such rates shall not be lower than those prescribed by the CSC.

Civil penalties and compensation for benefits received or that should have been received from committing the offense shall be remitted to the Ministry of Finance as public revenue. 

Note: 

* Civil sanctions are law enforcement measures under the Securities and Exchange Act B.E. 2535 (1992) (SEA), as amended by the Securities and Exchange Act (No. 5) B.E. 2559 (2016), which has been in effect since 12 December 2016. Section 317/1 of the SEA allows for civil sanctions to be imposed for criminal offenses under this Act.

Details of civil sanctions and associated procedures are available at https://www.sec.or.th/EN/pages/lawandregulations/civilpenalty.aspx.