Dennis Tey Thean Yang has been slapped with 23 charges under Singapore’s Securities and Futures Act.
According to the filing, the charges include one transaction under his account with CMC Markets Singapore Pte Ltd and IG Asia Pte between October 2012 and January 2013.
He also stands accused of abusing other people’s trading accounts at DBS Vickers Securities Pte Ltd and DMG & Partners Securities Pte.
If found guilty, he faces jail up to seven years and a fine of up to a maximum RM184,000.
Briefly, Tey allegedly bought and sold contracts for “differences” in the underlying securities of several companies. These include Guocoland Ltd and Asia Power Corp.
Under the charges, it’s alleged that he would delete fraudulent orders after a trade. Apparently, he would allegedly “defraud” other investors by artificially increasing or lowering bid and ask prices.
Tey could not be reached for comments.
The criminal charges are the first joint effort of its kind by the regulator and the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) of the police. The CAD, the white collar crime unit in the police, joined forces with the Monetary Authority of Singapore in March 2015 to probe misconduct in the market.
The civil penalty for insider trading was introduced in 2004. The city state has since boosted its maximum fines.
Singapore wants to protect its reputation as a financial centre and has of late embarked on several punitive measures.
In May, two men were charged for insider trading on the shares of two companies before they received takeover offers.
Earlier, in April, several brokerages were raided after the Stock Exchange reported several cases of suspected insider trading and market manipulation.