KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 4): Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd has reprimanded and suspended Hazni Othman for five months from acting as a registered dealer, after finding him guilty of manipulative trading in shares of Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd (KL:HAPSENG)
Hazni, then a salaried dealer’s representative at Affin Hwang Investment Bank Bhd, was also fined RM48,000 for engaging in manipulative trades through the trading account of a corporate client over a 12-month period, according to Bursa in a statement Thursday.
The manipulative trading activities included:
· increasing bid trades (IB Trades) by repeatedly entering buy orders above prevailing market prices to drive up or sustain Hap Seng’s share price, particularly in the final trading hour.
· influencing the theoretical closing price (TCP) by placing buy orders above the last traded price during the pre‑closing phase, causing shares to close higher or preventing them from closing lower.
According to Bursa, despite its Market Surveillance unit raising concerns about the trading activities to Affin Hwang, Hazni resumed such activities for another four months after a brief pause.
His actions inflated the buy side of the order book, narrowed spreads and created a misleading appearance of price strength, Bursa noted.
Even though Hazni asserted that the trades were undertaken based on the instruction of the client's authorised person and that he had no personal interest in those trades, Bursa said Hazni ought to have recognised the irregularity of the trades as an experienced trader, undertaken due inquiry, and exercised proper skill and diligence to avoid manipulative practices.
"It was unacceptable for Hazni to act as a mere order-taker in undertaking dealing activities" for the client "without proper assessment of the orders received/executed", Bursa said. "He ought to have "exercised reasonable due care and diligence so as to avoid/prevent/refrain from any manipulative trading activities."
Bursa said he had failed to perform his professional duties properly, which allowed his client to engage in manipulative trading of Hap Seng's shares. Specifically, the regulator said Hazni did not use the necessary care and skill required as a registered dealer to maintain a fair and orderly market, which led to the manipulative activities by the client.
It said the sanctions were imposed after considering:
- the scale, intensity and impact of Hazni’s manipulative trades, and his persistence despite surveillance concerns;
- the seriousness of the breaches and the fundamental duty of dealer’s representatives to uphold market integrity;
- his conduct in ignoring irregularities and acting as a mere order‑taker; and
- his admission of the breaches and cooperation during enforcement, which was taken into account in determining the penalty.