Sebi interim order bars 59 entities from trading
JAYSHREE P UPADHYAY Mumbai
21 August 2015
Business Standard
Bars the entities for alleged manipulation of the stock exchange route to evade taxes
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday passed an interim order against several wealthy investors, for alleged manipulation of the stock exchange route for evading taxes. Continue reading
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/scouring-accounting-footnotes-to-prevent-tunnelling
Scouring accounting footnotes to prevent tunnelling
KEE KOON BOON
933 words
19 August 2015
Business Times Singapore
Framework needed to tackle insiders’ stealing of corporate wealth.
IMAGINE that the S-chip (Singapore-listed China stocks) fraud with its “missing cash phenomenon” and the penny stock scandal never happened – because there was a way to prevent them.
While accounting information and disclosures may be abused to deceive, instead of being used to inform, there is a countermeasure if one only looks for it. For fraud perpetrators actually, if inadvertently, leave behind a trace of their accounting transgressions in the footnotes of annual reports.
Related: (1) Scouring accounting footnotes to prevent tunnelling; (2) The trouble with non-binding takeover offers that create a false and manipulated ceiling for the target company’s shares which could be pledged or faced margin calls; There are numerous examples of where such buyouts have ended in tatters and some investors getting burnt; (3) Jade’s ex-president jailed and fined over sham takeover bid to push up its share price; (4) China Cord Blood Corp (NYSE: CO) and Golden Meditech (801 HK): Accounting Facts and Footnotes; (5) Taiwan’s MOF asks banks for details of Chinese loans to two troubled Chinese companies – Frankfurt-listed Chinese shoe company Ultrasonic AG whose executives disappeared with the loan and Golden Meditech (801 HK); TSU raises question of insider trading in Golden Meditech TDRs; FSC boss quizzed on Lien’s Golden Meditech TDRs; (6) 脐带血功效被夸大 中源协和 (Zhongyuan Union Cell & Gene: 600645 CH) 核心业务受困; 胎盘脐带血自费存储乱象; 脐带血：是生命种子，还是炒作噱头？“变了味”的脐带血; 脐带血保存，一场骗局? 血疑——上海市脐血库事件调查; Inside the Private Umbilical Cord Blood Banking Business: Wall Street Journal Analysis Found Dirty Storage, Leaky Blood Samples and Firms Going Under
Is Your Forward-Looking Statement Safe Harbor Safe?
Dykema Gossett
1560 words
17 August 2015
Mondaq Business Briefing
Federal Appeals Court Reverses Dismissal and Revives Securities Fraud Class Action
A recent federal appeals court decision has cast a shadow over the protection provided by the forward looking statement safe harbor provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“PSLRA”). The ruling in In re: Harman International Industries, Inc. Securities Litigation (No. 14-7017) (D.C. Cir. June 23, 2015) reinstated a securities fraud class action lawsuit against an electronics company and three of its officers, who were charged with “knowingly and recklessly” propping up the company’s stock price with erroneous forward looking statements when the company was being considered for an acquisition that eventually fell through. The ruling should serve as a warning to public companies to be more vigilant in reviewing their safe harbor language and ensuring it is both meaningful and current. Continue reading
BSE takes measures to plug tax evasion, money laundering
Ashwin J Punnen
16 August 2015
Financial Chronicle
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) is putting in place a series of measures to prevent use of its exchange platform by various unscrupulous entities to evade taxes and launder money. These measures include putting additional circuit filters on stocks that are susceptible for price manipulation and reducing the number of out of the money option contracts. The exchange recently put weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly circuit filters on about 4000 stocks that are exclusively traded on the BSE and stocks listed on its SME and SME ITP platform. The exchange has also reduced the number of strikes in an option contracts available for trading from seven to three after it has found that deep out-of-money contracts were used by entities to convert black money into white. Continue reading
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2015/08/17/2137481/doubling-your-frozen-capital-hong-kong-style/
Doubling your frozen capital, Hong Kong style
| Aug 17 08:30 | 2 comments | Share
Jennifer Hughes in Hong Kong
And then there was $29bn in frozen capital. When we last calculated the equity value of long-suspended Hong Kong stocks in July, it came to just $12bn. News from the biggest of the new entrants to the HK freezer is not exactly lifting the tone of the group, either. Last Friday, Tianhe Chemical, with $3.7bn in market cap, warned its auditor is planning to “disclaim” its opinion of the group’s delayed 2014 accounts while the auditors for Sihuan Pharmaceutical, which provided $5.9bn of the added frozen equity, did exactly that in its (also delayed) accounts, also published last week.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2015/08/488_185070.html
Updated : 2015-08-18 17:53
Regulator raids accountant for allegedly using inside information
By Kim Jae-won
The financial regulator said Tuesday that its officials raided an accountant’s house, and searched his car and cell phone because he allegedly traded stocks using inside information. It is the first time in 13 years that the Financial Services Commission (FSC) exercised its authority to raid people suspected of committing financial crimes. Continue reading
Related: (1) The trouble with non-binding takeover offers that create a false and manipulated ceiling for the target company’s shares which could be pledged or faced margin calls; There are numerous examples of where such buyouts have ended in tatters and some investors getting burnt; (2) China Cord Blood Corp (NYSE: CO) and Golden Meditech (801 HK): Accounting Facts and Footnotes; (3) Taiwan’s MOF asks banks for details of Chinese loans to two troubled Chinese companies – Frankfurt-listed Chinese shoe company Ultrasonic AG whose executives disappeared with the loan and Golden Meditech (801 HK); TSU raises question of insider trading in Golden Meditech TDRs; FSC boss quizzed on Lien’s Golden Meditech TDRs; (4) 脐带血功效被夸大 中源协和 (Zhongyuan Union Cell & Gene: 600645 CH) 核心业务受困; 胎盘脐带血自费存储乱象; 脐带血：是生命种子，还是炒作噱头？“变了味”的脐带血; 脐带血保存，一场骗局? 血疑——上海市脐血库事件调查; Inside the Private Umbilical Cord Blood Banking Business: Wall Street Journal Analysis Found Dirty Storage, Leaky Blood Samples and Firms Going Under
Jade’s ex-president jailed and fined over sham takeover bid
Soh made a takeover offer for Jade Technologies in a bid to push up its share price.ST FILE PHOTO
5 HOURS AGO
The former president of Jade Technologies was sentenced yesterday to eight years and nine months’ jail and fined $50,000 for offences connected to his botched takeover bid for the company in 2008. Anthony Soh Guan Cheow, a doctor-turned-businessman, was convicted of 39 charges, including market rigging and insider trading as well as two charges of giving false reports to the Singapore Exchange and Securities Industry Council. He was given two years and six months’ jail for market rigging and jail terms ranging from six months to two years and six months for seven counts of insider trading. The sentences are the highest imposed for such offences in Singapore. This is also the first time a person has been convicted and sentenced under Section 140 of the Securities and Futures Act for making a takeover bid when he could not fulfil the obligations in the transaction. Continue reading
http://news.asiaone.com/news/crime/ex-boss-gets-jail-term-cheating#xtor=cs3-18
Ex-boss gets jail term for cheating
The former boss of Singapore-listed magazine publisher and property development firm Eastern Holdings was sentenced to four years in jail yesterday for cheating. Stephen Tay Thian Boon, 57, will also be barred from acting as a director in Singapore for five years after his release. Continue reading
Criminals are manipulating the stock market and regulators can’t seem to stop it
JONATHAN MARINO FINANCE AUG. 9, 2015, 5:39 AM
The SEC has gone from tracking illicit traders from chat rooms to an international game of cat-and-mouse. Sometimes the crooks keep one step ahead of regulators.
On May 14 a Bulgarian stock schemer is alleged to have moved the share price of consumer company Avon Products by making a false filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Three months later, nothing is stopping someone else from doing the very same thing. The Securities and Exchange Commission says it’s not making changes to its Edgar filing system. A spokeswoman for the SEC told Business Insider: “Filers are responsible for the accuracy of their filings and as demonstrated face enforcement actions for false filings.” The SEC didn’t answer questions about taking further steps to prevent fraudulent filings. Continue reading
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2015/08/10/2137006/pwcs-great-noble-group-disclaimer/
PwC’s great Noble Group disclaimer
| Aug 10 18:52 | 4 comments | Share
So, PwC’s review of Noble Group’s accounting and management practices — commissioned by Noble Group and released on Monday — puts the commodity trader firmly in the clear with regards to the way the company records profits on long-term sales and marketing deals. It is, at the very least, consistent with industry practice. But for posterity’s sake we thought we’d stick up the sizeable PwC disclaimer list that precedes the actual findings. The FT’s Neil Hume and David Sheppard further draw attention to the fact that the commodity dealer is to cut 16 per cent of its staff and seek asset sales or new financing deals as it continues to face difficult trading conditions. There are also reports emerging of Noble approaching a prominent dealmaker Michael Klein to review its options.
AsianExtractor: Unearthing Accounting Fraud in Asia 