Bangkok, 7 June 2018 ? The SEC has imposed civil sanction in the case of share manipulation of Asset Bright Public Company Limited (ABC) (currently named Digital Tech Planet Public Company Limited (DIGI)). The case involved seven offenders, namely (1) Mr. Sathit Roongwatanapak, (2) Mr. Chavin Roongwatanapak, (3) Mr. Porameth Rungrongtanin, (4) Ms. Tanyapa Sawessil, (5) Ms. Sorod Jantratip, (6) Ms. Iryne Tangpoolcharoen, (7) Mrs. Saliga Tangpoolcharoen. The offenders were subject to civil penalties at the total aggregate amount of 120 million baht and a ban from holding the director or executive position of securities issuing companies and listed company. 

According to the referral from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and the SEC's further investigation, during 22 May 2014 - 30 June 2014, the trading activities of ABC shares were inconsistent with normal market conditions. As a result, the closing price jumped from 2.38 baht to 7.80 baht and the daily trading volume significantly increased from approximately 30,000 shares to more than 600,000 shares.

The seven offenders conspired to cause such irregular trading activities. Sathit was the financial source for the scheme whereby Tanyapa passed along the money for Porameth to buy and hold ABC shares for Sathit. Later, the trading account of Sorod was used to buy the shares to inflate the share price while Porameth sold big lots of the shares to Sathit, Chavin, Iryne and Saliga to mislead general investors into believing that the ABC shares were traded in high volumes. When investors bought the shares, the group sold the shares and made profits from the price margin, causing damage to a large number of investors.  

The seven persons? offences were in violation of Section 243(1) in conjunction with Section 244 and Section 243(2) and liable to the punishments under Section 296 of the Securities and Exchange Act B.E. 2535 (1992), which were in force at the time of committing the offences. In addition, such offences are currently in violation of Section 244/3 and liable to the punishments under Section 296, Section 296/1 and 296/2 of the Securities and Exchange Act (No. 5) B.E. 2559 (2016) in conjunction with Section 86 of the Criminal Code.

The Civil Sanction Committee has resolved for the SEC to impose civil sanction on the seven offenders in the form of civil penalty, which was considered based on the benefit received by each offender. Porameth signed a statement of consent to the civil sanction and fully paid a civil penalty of 500,000 baht*. The other six offenders made an appointment to make a statement of consent to pay a separate civil penalty. In case any person fails to give a consent to the civil sanction, the SEC will forward the matter for the public attorney to file a lawsuit in the Civil Court in due course.

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

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* Money received from the civil penalties will be submitted to the Ministry of Finance as public revenue.

** 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.