KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 17): The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has won its claim in a civil suit against Datuk Ng Back Heang, a former executive director of Patimas Computers Bhd, for insider trading.

In a statement on Thursday (Nov 17), the SC said that Ng, 68, was ordered by the High Court on Nov 16 to pay the regulator a sum of RM1.24 million, which is three times the losses he avoided as a result of the insider trading.

The SC said the case was heard by Judicial Commissioner Tuan Muhammad Amin Wan Yahya, who found that Ng had breached Section 188(2)(a) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007.

Ng was also ordered to pay a civil penalty of RM700,000 to the SC.

He is barred from being appointed as a director of a public listed company for five years. The High Court also granted the SC RM100,000 in costs.

The breach occurred when Ng disposed of 16.5 million Patimas shares that he owned between May and July 2012 while in possession of material non-public information.

The said information was in relation to audit queries and issues about suspicious transactions between Patimas and its top debtors.

The SC said insider trading continues to be a high priority, and that the judgement sends a strong and clear message to the public that insider trading, where inside information is misused for personal gain, will not be tolerated by the SC.

This is the second successful claim by the SC against a former director of Patimas for insider trading.

In April this year, the SC’s civil claim against the former deputy chairman of Patimas, Datuk Raymond Yap Wee Hin, was allowed and the High Court ordered Yap to pay to the SC a sum of RM3.28 million, which was three times the loss avoided by him as a result of insider trading activities, as well as a civil penalty of RM1 million.