Bangkok, 21 June 2018 ? The SEC has imposed civil sanction on two offenders, namely Mr. Sarath Teganjanavanich and Ms. Malita Limlomwongse, for using inside information to buy shares of Thai Optical Group Public Company Limited (TOG). The offenders paid civil penalties and compensation for the received benefit, at the total amount of 4.83 million baht.

According to the referral from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and the SEC's further investigation, Sarath, TOG Vice President, Business Planning and Finance, had access to the information that the net profit of the company had increased significantly in the third quarter of 2015, i.e., 89.62 million baht or a 136.97 percent increase from the same quarter of the preceding year, while the net profit for the first quarter of 2016 was 75.30 million baht or a 73.22 percent rise from the same period of 2015. Sarath took advantage of the inside information and bought 2,189,700 TOG shares through the trading account of Malita (currently his wife) before the company disclosed the financial statements for both quarters to the public via the SET Electronic Information Transmission System.

Sarath's securities purchase took advantage of material, non-public facts that influenced the securities price. His act was liable to the offences under Section 241 and the punishments under Section 296 of the Securities and Exchange Act B.E. 2535 (1992) (SEA), which were in force at the time of offence commission. In addition, such act is currently deemed an offence under Section 242 and subject to the punishments under Section 296 and Section 296/2 of the Securities and Exchange Act (No. 5) B.E. 2559 (2016). As to Malita, her assistance for Sarath to commit the offence was itself an offence liable to the punishments under the said provisions in conjunction with Section 86 of the Criminal Code.

The Civil Sanction Committee decided to impose civil sanction on both offenders, who subsequently made a statement of consent to the civil sanction and fully complied therewith, as follows: Sarath paid a civil penalty of 2.32 million baht and a compensation of 1.85 million baht for the received benefit, while Malita paid a civil penalty of 0.66 million baht. The SEC will submit the total amount of the civil penalties and the compensation to the Ministry of Finance as public revenue.

Apart from the civil sanction, the SEC banned Sarath from holding the position of director or executive of any securities issuing company or listed company* for two years.   

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* Pursuant to the Notification of the Securities and Exchange Commission No. Kor Jor. 3/2560 Re: Determination of Untrustworthy Characteristics of Company Directors and Executives dated 23 January 2017.