MAS imposes S$120,000 penalty on doctor for insider trading of Singapore Medical Group shares

[SINGAPORE] The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Tuesday (Jun 30) imposed a civil penalty of S$120,000 on Dr Kenneth Chua for insider trading of shares of Singapore Medical Group Limited (SMGL).

At the time of the contravention, SMGL was listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and Dr Chua was both a shareholder of the company and a doctor employed by one of its subsidiaries.

The case centres around a Sep 13, 2022 announcement by SMGL, stating that it received a voluntary conditional general offer from TLW Success to privatise the company. SMGL was delisted in January 2023.

Prior to this announcement, Dr Chua was one of the few shareholders approached by the offeror. He was informed of the privatisation plan for SMGL, the intention to expand the company’s operations and was asked to sign an irrevocable undertaking in favour of the offer.

While in possession of this material information that was not yet publicly available, Dr Chua purchased a total of 210,000 SMGL shares on Sep 6 and 7, 2022, at a cumulative price of S$67,200.

Dr Chua admitted to contravening a section of the Securities and Futures Act, which prohibits trading while in possession of materially price-sensitive information that is not generally available. He paid the civil penalty to MAS without court action.

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In addition to the financial penalty, Dr Chua gave a voluntary undertaking not to be a company director or be involved in the management of a company for a period of two years.

The action against Dr Chua was the result of a joint investigation conducted by the Commercial Affairs Department and MAS. The investigation was initially triggered by a referral from SGX.