The Market Misconduct Tribunal (MMT) has sanctioned two former executives of Asia Telemedia Limited (ATML) (now known as Yunfeng Financial Group Limited) – Mr Charles Yiu Hoi Ying and Ms Marian Wong Nam – following legal proceedings brought by the Securities and Futures Commissions (SFC) .
The MMT’s orders came after the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) allowed an appeal brought by the SFC which argued that the defence under section 271(3) of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) should not be applicable to Yiu and Wong and found them culpable of insider dealing in the shares of ATML.
The MMT made the following orders after the CFA remitted the matter to the tribunal to deal with sanctions:
- Yiu and Wong be banned from dealing in securities in Hong Kong for three years, effective from 15 April 2021;
- Yiu be disqualified from being a director or being involved in the management of a listed company for three years, effective from 15 April 2021;
- Yiu not to engage in insider dealing and Wong not to engage in any conduct which constitutes market misconduct again;
- the losses of $3,123,329.02 and $1,076,937.97 avoided by Yiu and Wong, respectively, in their insider dealing of ATML shares be disgorged;
- Yiu and Wong to pay the SFC’s investigation and legal costs, as well as the costs of the MMT proceedings; and
- the MMT report be referred to the Hong Kong Institute of Chartered Secretaries with a recommendation to take disciplinary action against Wong (Notes 5 to 10).
The MMT also awarded Mr Lu Ruifeng, former chairman and executive director of ATML, and Ms Cecilia Ho King Lin, former assistant company secretary of ATML, with legal costs for reasons that they were not identified as persons who had engaged in market misconduct in the same legal proceedings brought by the SFC against Yiu and Wong (Note 11).
The legal proceedings in the Court of First Instance under section 213 of the SFO against Lu for his alleged insider dealing in ATML shares remain afoot.
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