NBCB!!! TO THINK I TRUSTED THIS COMPANY AND THEIR HONEST
BUSINESS!!! I THINK IM SELLING SHARES OFF IN THIS COMPANY
TOMORROW!!! 
SINGAPORE : A man who was a senior manager of fast-expanding
Singapore-listed bakery franchiser BreadTalk has been fined for
insider trading, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said on
Tuesday.
Frankie Quek Swee Heng, BreadTalk's group general manager at the
time of the offence in 2003, admitted to insider trading under the
Securities and Futures Act and agreed to pay a penalty of $200,000
(US$123,000) without court action, the Monetary Authority of
Singapore (MAS) said in a statement.
BreadTalk was incorporated in Singapore in 2003 and has since
formed partnerships throughout Asia and the Middle East.
MAS said that on October 17, 2003, BreadTalk Ltd announced that its
wholly-owned subsidiary BreadTalk Pte Ltd had signed a master
franchise agreement with a firm in Kuwait.
Between October 8 and 13, 2003, Quek purchased about 600,000
BreadTalk shares and procured Lee Boon Hiok to purchase about 1.4
million shares, MAS said, without further identifying Lee.
"The purchases were made through a share trading account in Hong
Kong maintained in the name of Ms Lee. At the time of the share
purchases, Mr Quek and Ms Lee were in possession of non-public
material price sensitive information concerning the franchise
agreement," MAS said.
It said that as a result of their purchases, Quek made gains of
about $35,000 and Lee made about $81,000.
Lee also admitted to contravening insider trading provisions and
will pay a penalty of $105,000, MAS said.
Quek's higher penalty partly took into account that he obtained the
inside information through his position at BreadTalk, it
said.
MAS sought the assistance of Hong Kong's Securities and Futures
Commission on the case which highlights the importance of
international regulatory cooperation, said Shane Tregillis, MAS
deputy managing director of market conduct.
"This enforcement action is a clear signal that MAS is prepared and
able to pursue infractions of our securities law, even where
perpetrators seek to avoid detection and enforcement by using
trading accounts located overseas," he said.
BreadTalk officials could not be immediately reached for comment. -
AFP/de
