Ex-Patimas director loses final bid in RM1.2mil insider trading case

PUTRAJAYA: Former Patimas Computers Bhd executive director Ng Back Heang has failed in his final attempt to overturn a court order requiring him to pay RM1.24 million to the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) for insider trading.

A three-member Federal Court bench chaired by Justice Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera today refused Ng leave to appeal against a Court of Appeal decision upholding the High Court’s finding that he had engaged in insider trading.

Vazeer said Ng failed to satisfy the threshold for leave under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.

He said the three legal questions proposed by Ng were already answered by the Federal Court in an earlier case and therefore did not warrant a further appeal.

Leave to appeal to the Federal Court is granted only where a case raises novel constitutional or legal questions of public importance that require determination by the apex court.

Vazeer, who sat with Justices Ahmad Terrirudin Salleh and Nazlan Ghazali, also ordered Ng to pay the SC RM50,000 in costs.

In November 2022, the High Court found Ng liable for insider trading under Section 188(2)(a) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007.

The Court of Appeal subsequently affirmed the ruling and ordered Ng to pay the SC RM1.24 million, representing three times the losses he avoided through the unlawful share transactions.

He was also ordered to pay a civil penalty of RM700,000 and was disqualified from serving as a director of any listed company for five years from the date of the High Court judgment.

The case involved the disposal of 16.5 million Patimas shares between May and July 2012, while Ng was in possession of material, non-public information concerning the company.

The undisclosed information related to audit queries and suspicious transactions involving Patimas and several of its major debtors, which were raised by the company’s external auditor during a meeting with management.

On July 31, 2012, Patimas announced to Bursa Malaysia that it was unable to issue its audited financial statements for the period of Jan 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012, because significant audit findings and queries remained unresolved.

Jasbeer Singh appeared for Ng, while B Dhinesh represented the SC.