Doctor fined S$120,000 for insider trading of S'pore Medical Group shares

A doctor employed by a subsidiary of Singapore Medical Group (SMG) has been fined S$120,000 for insider trading in the group's shares.

The fine was imposed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) as a civil penalty, according to a joint statement by MAS and the police on Jun. 30.

Kenneth Chua Han Boon admitted to the offence and paid MAS the civil penalty without court action.

Privatisation deal

At the time of the offence, SMG was listed on the Singapore Exchange, and Chua was a shareholder.

On Sep. 13, 2022, SMG announced that it had received a voluntary conditional general offer from a company to privatise the group.

Chua was one of the few shareholders approached by the offeror before this announcement, and was asked to sign an irrevocable undertaking in favour of the offer.

He was thus informed in advance of this privatisation plan and the intention to expand SMG's operations.

With this information that was not yet publicly available, Chua bought a total of 210,000 SMG shares on Sep. 6 and 7, 2022, at a cumulative cost of S$67,200.

Penalty

MAS and the Commercial Affairs Department of the police launched a joint investigation into the case following a referral from Singapore Exchange Regulation Private Limited.

Apart from paying the civil penalty, Chua also gave a voluntary undertaking not to be a company director or be involved in the management of a company for two years.