KUALA LUMPUR: The Securities Commission, with the consent of the public prosecutor, has withdrawn related criminal proceedings against lawyer Datuk Sreesanthan a/l Eliathamby.
The SC, in a statement today, said it had also withdrawn its appeal against Sreesanthan's acquittal in another case for insider trading of Sime Darby Bhd shares.
This is after Sreesanthan agreed to pay RM900,000 disgorgement of profits as part of a regulatory settlement agreement with the SC for insider trading of the shares of Maxis Communications Bhd, UEM World Bhd and VADS Bhd.
The settlement, however, does not affect another ongoing civil proceeding against Sreesanthan in relation to his acquisition of 600,000 Worldwide Holdings Bhd shares between June and July 2006, while in possession of material non-public information.
In this proceeding, Sreesanthan was found liable by the High Court on November 4 2020 and ordered to pay to the SC a sum of RM1.99 million in disgorgement, a civil penalty of RM1 million and barred from holding directorships of public listed companies for 10 years, effective from November 18 2020.
He has filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal against the decision.
Sreesanthan was charged in July 2012 for insider trading involving Sime Darby, Maxis Communications, UEM World and VADS' shares between October 2006 and September 2008, when he was a senior partner of a law firm involved in the corporate exercises of the companies.
Even though the SC charged Sreesanthan in 2012, the trial only commenced in 2019 as he had, in September 2012, filed an application to challenge the constitutionality of the investigative powers of the SC under sections 128 and 134
of the Securities Commission Malaysia Act 1993.
Sreesanthan had also filed an application to strike out the criminal charges against him and sought for the disclosure of witnesses' statements and documents.
