'If they are successful, the culprits get more shares than they are entitled to and can reap extra profit if share prices surge.'
SCMP, March 30
Iwish I could fathom the thinking of people with an over-developed sense of moral righteousness but I am always surprised at how they see crime where I see only evidence that someone has used brains to take advantage of opportunity.
The news here, of course, is that the police have arrested 18 people for submitting multiple applications for initial public offerings on the stock market when the junk food appetite for big mainland listings was at its height last year.
These people exploited an anomaly in the ID card numbering of refund cheques to make their multiple applications, for which they have now been branded as 'culprits'. They exceeded what they were 'entitled to' and, worst of all, they stood to 'reap extra profit', a truly heinous offence. The words 'scam' and 'fraudulent' also featured in our report of this incident. Yes indeed, hangin's too good for 'em.
I have a different perspective. I applaud them for a neat piece of clever thinking. My view is that the cops could have put their time and resources to better use in catching some real crooks than in hunting headlines for support of odd notions of financial rectitude.