FEDERAL COURT DISMISSES LEAVE APPLICATION BY EX-PATIMAS DEPUTY CHAIRMAN IN INSIDER TRADING CASE

PUTRAJAYA, May 21 (Bernama) – The Federal Court today unanimously dismissed an application by former Patimas Computers Bhd deputy chairman, Datuk Raymond Yap Wee Hin, for leave to appeal against his liability for insider trading offence committed in 2012.

A three-member bench led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, together with Federal Court Judges Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera and Datuk Lee Swee Seng, affirmed the earlier decisions of the Court of Appeal and High Court.

The court ordered him to pay RM30,000 costs to the Securities Commission (SC).

Yap had sought to challenge the Court of Appeal’s unanimous decision on Nov 27, 2024, which upheld the High Court’s finding that he was liable for insider trading of Patimas Computers Berhad (Patimas) shares in 2012.

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), which initiated the civil suit in 2020, alleged that Yap had breached sections 188(2)(a) and (b) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (CMSA) by disposing of 43.8 million Patimas shares held by former managing director Law Siew Ngoh, between June and July 2012.

SC claimed that at the time, Yap was in possession of material, non-public information relating to audit queries and issues regarding suspicious transactions between Patimas and its top debtors.

“The matter had been raised and discussed by Patimas’ external auditor during a meeting with the company’s management,” the Commission said in a statement.

On July 31, 2012, Patimas’ Board of Directors announced to Bursa Malaysia that the company would not be able to issue the company’s Annual Audited Financial Statements for the financial period from Jan 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012 due to unresolved significant audit findings/queries.

The statement stated that following a full trial at the High Court, Yap was ordered to pay to the SC a disgorgement of RM3.28 million, which is equal to three times the losses avoided by Yap as a result of the breach, and a civil penalty of RM1 million. 

Yap was also prohibited from being appointed as director in any public-listed company for a period of five years, with effect from the date of the High Court judgment on April 7, 2022.

— BERNAMA