Bangkok, 30 March 2018 ? The SEC has imposed civil sanction on two offenders, namely Mr. Pinit Vongmasa and Mr. Chatchala Vongmasa, for using inside information to purchase shares of Padaeng Industry Public Company Limited (PDI). The offenders paid civil penalties and compensation for the received benefits, at the total amount of 1,917,895.83 baht.

According to the referral from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and the SEC's further investigation, Pinit, who was then an independent director of PDI (he no longer holds the position), knew that the company's operating results for the third quarter of 2016 recorded a net profit of 221.45 million baht, a significant increase from the preceding quarter. Based on this inside information, Pinit had purchased 256,500 PDI shares through the trading account of his son, Chatchala, before the company disclosed the financial statements for the said quarter to the public via the SET Electronic Information Transmission System on 9 November 2016.

Pinit's act was a securities purchase that took advantage of a material, non-public fact that influenced the securities price, which was deemed an exploitation of third parties and liable to the offences under Section 241 and the punishments under Section 296 of the Securities and Exchange Act B.E. 2535 (1992) (SEA). Currently, such act is deemed an offence under Section 242 and subject to the punishments under Section 296 and Section 296/2 of the SEA, as amended by the Securities and Exchange Act (No. 5) B.E. 2559 (2016). As to Chatchala, his assistance for Pinit 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: (1) Pinit paid a civil penalty of 880,312.50 baht and a compensation of 704,250 baht for the received benefit, and (2) Chatchala paid a civil penalty of 333,333.33 baht. The SEC will submit the total amount of 1,917,895.83 baht to the Ministry of Finance as public revenue.

Due to the Civil Sanction Committee's order, the two offenders have become persons possessing untrustworthy characteristics and subsequently banned from the position of director or executive at any securities issuing company or listed company.

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