NATURAL Cool Holdings CEO Ang Choon Cheng has been hit with a civil penalty by the authorities and has resigned from his position over false trading and manipulation of shares in the company.

Mr Ang, who also relinquished his post as a director of the air-conditioning services firm yesterday, was dealt a $150,000 civil penalty without court action by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for breaching the Securities and Futures Act (SFA).

His violations of the Act started after he pledged Natural Cool shares for financing purposes. On 35 days between Jan 9, 2008 and June 16, 2009, he bought Natural Cool shares in order to maintain or raise the share price to prevent margin calls, MAS said.