The Eastern Magistracy today sentenced broker Mr Chan Yuk Hing and his client, Mr Paul Frederic Chane Yin, after they were found guilty of manipulating the share price of Multifield International Holdings Limited.
Securities and Futures Commission, July 13
Let me tell you what these two unspeakably vile criminals did. They bought a board lot of this stock at HK$1 a share when it was trading at only 25 HK cents and then made a profit of HK$9,985 by filling in the dupes who came running because they thought something was happening in the stock.
Little did these two know that the SFC possesses an all-knowing computer that ceaselessly scans all trades on the market for just such crimes as these. The computer rang its warning bell and the regulators pounced. Score another victory for truth and justice. What a marvellous computer.
Of course, you may share my view that the market actually benefits when speculators burn their fingers by chasing false bids. You may do no more than laugh, as I do. You may even have noted that our two criminals would have to repeat their offence more than 100 times a year to make as much as the average pay of each of the SFC's more than 500 employees. Yes, there is indeed a cost to society here.
But today let us look instead at a caper that the SFC missed. My attention was called to it by a profit warning posted at the stock exchange earlier this month.