KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 1): The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has reprimanded and imposed a penalty of RM687,500 on Amran Mohd Amin for three breaches of securities laws.

In a statement on Thursday, the regulator said the SC’s decisions took effect on June 26, 2024.

SC said Amran had between January 2022 and January 2023, misappropriated RM215,000 from four potential investors for purposes of investments in a unit trust fund with Kenanga Investors Bhd (KIB)(KL:KENANGA).

The SC found that Amran had instead utilised the potential investors’ funds by depositing them in his own unit trust investment account.

It said Amran had also provided falsified statements of accounts to two of the four investors, giving a false impression that the investments or purchases of unit trusts were made, when no such purchases happened.

Amran, who was attached to KIB at the material time as a unit trust consultant, committed the following breaches, which attracted administrative sanctions under Section 354(3) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (CMSA):

• Section 92A(2)(a) of the CMSA;
• Paragraph 5.02(b) of the SC’s Guidelines on Conduct for Capital Market Intermediaries;

and

• Paragraph 4.1(a) of the Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia’s Code of Ethics.

The SC’s findings against Amran were made after according due process to him, including the opportunity to respond to the SC on the aforesaid breaches and SC’s decision. Amran has not filed any review against the SC’s decision within the prescribed time provided under the CMSA.

The sanctions imposed against Amran are the latest in the SC’s enforcement action against unit trust consultants (UTCs) for misconduct.

The SC said they also served as a strong message that any misconduct will not be tolerated.

The SC views misconducts by UTCs in the capital market seriously.