The criminal complaint has been made in furtherance of the criminal complaint by the SEC against the former directors and executives of K.C. Property Public Company Limited (KC) and others for jointly committing with dishonest intent by authorizing KC to issue bills of exchange (B/E) for sale to a mutual fund of Solaris Asset Management Co., Ltd. which caused the misappropriation of an amount of 430 million baht. As a consequence, KC was in default on the payment of 350 million baht on those bills of exchange (B/E) (SEC News No. 2/2018 dated Friday, 5 January 2018). 

The SEC’s further investigation revealed that the investment on the bills of exchange (B/E) had been approved by the Investment Committee of Solaris Asset Management Co., Ltd. chaired by Mr. Suphan Sethapanich. According to evidences, it is reasonable to believe that Mr. Suphan Sethapanich has obtained benefits from selling the bills of exchange (B/E). He, therefore, committed an offense with dishonest intent and obtained unlawful gains for himself or another person and causes damage to Solaris Asset Management Co., Ltd. and undermined investor confidence in the fairness and integrity of capital markets, which constitutes an offense under the second paragraph of Section 281/2 and Section 311 of the Securities and Exchange Act. The SEC, therefore, filed a criminal complaint against Mr. Suphan Sethapanich to the DSI to take further action in accordance with the law.   

The criminal complaint inures that the accused is considered to be untrustworthy characteristics of the securities issuing companies and listed companies directors and executives under the relevant notification, this person, therefore, cannot perform duties as a director or an executive of the company and cannot act as personnel in the capital market business during the period he is prosecuted.

In addition, the SEC investigated the Investment Committee of Solaris Asset Management Co., Ltd. in authorizing the mutual fund to invest in debt instruments of which the credit was not rated and found defects in consideration of important information or factors with respect to the issuer, and this affected its capability to repay the principal and pay interest, constituting an offense. The Investment Committee is considered to have the prohibited characteristics to act as personnel in the capital market business.** The SEC has suspended Mr. Suphan Sethapanich from as acting as personnel in the capital market business and performing duties as the managing director and the chairman of the Investment Committee for a period of three years and six months, and has suspended {B}, {C}, {D}, and {E} from acting as a member of the Investment Committee for a period of one year and three months each. In addition, Mr. Suphan Sethapanich committed an offense under Section 283 of the Securities and Exchange Act whereby the SEC had informed Mr. Suphan Sethapanich to accept the fine settlement but he did not agree to do so.  The SEC, therefore, filed the criminal complaint against Mr. Suphan Sethapanich for this offense at the same time.

In addition, the criminal complaint by the SEC is only the starting point of the criminal law enforcement process. Under this process, in order to adjudicate whether a person has committed an offense will depend on the investigation under the authority of the Department of Special Investigation, the filing of an action by the public prosecutor, as well as the discretion of the court of justice, respectively.

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** To be effective from 13 April 2019, with the exception of {C} in which the suspension shall be effective from 22 April 2019.  During this period, these persons are prohibited from performing duties relating to the management or acting as consultants to securities companies or relating to investment management, and other work within the scope of performing duties as personnel in the capital market business.