A COMPANY, Permasteelisa Pacific Holdings (PPH), wanted to issue
new shares at 40 cents each to pay for the acquisition of another
firm.
But to prevent then-listed PPH's share price from dipping below
40 cents, its chief financial officer Franco Giuseppe was allegedly
instructed by his bosses to buy PPH shares on 40 occasions between
March and August 2004.
He bought more than 1.35 million shares using the accounts of
associated companies. It is understood that if PPH's share price
had fallen below 40 cents, the company would have had to issue more
shares for the purchase.
Yesterday, the Italian national was fined $40,000 each on three
counts of insider trading, and fined an additional $80,000 each on
two counts of market rigging. A total of 15 similar charges were
taken into consideration by District Judge Kessler Soh when passing
sentence.
Giuseppe, 45, who is a permanent resident, had pleaded guilty in
February. Asking the court to impose only a fine, defence counsel
Shashi Nathan of Inca Law pointed out that his client did not make
a cent from the transactions, and that Giuseppe merely did as he
was told by his bosses.
But the lawyer did admit that this was no excuse, as the former
CFO should have known better.
-- ST