Court rules in SC’s favour in Iris share manipulation case

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 30): The High Court has ruled in favour of the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) against six foreign defendants for their role in manipulating shares in Iris Corp Bhd in 2006, marking the end to a civil suit filed by the SC in 2008.

According to a statement from the SC, the outcome of yesterday’s court decision came following an earlier High Court ruling on June 16 that favoured the SC against another defendant in this suit, Richard Benjamin Cohen, for his role in the same manipulation.

Cohen, a former research analyst at Aeneas Capital Management LP, was also ordered to pay the SC a sum of RM50,000 in costs, the SC said.

“Cohen, together with the six defendants, namely Aeneas Capital Management LP, Priam Holdings Ltd, Aeneas Portfolio Company LP, Acadian Worldwide Inc, Thomas R Grossman and John Suglia, are now permanently barred from trading in any counter on Bursa Malaysia,” said the SC.

Iris, a manufacturer of smart cards for electronic passports and electronic identification cards, is listed on Bursa Malaysia’s ACE Market.

The SC had alleged that the defendants colluded in the manipulation of Iris shares over 44 days. The manipulation caused the company’s share price to rise from eight sen to close at a high of RM1.36 per share after an average 200 million shares were traded daily over that period, said the SC.

All seven defendants were found to have conspired to manipulate the share price of Iris, in breach of the Securities Industry Act 1983, it added.

Shares in Iris closed unchanged at 17 sen yesterday, after 1.63 million shares were traded, giving it a market capitalisation of RM420.22 million. Year to date, the stock has risen some 55% from 11 sen.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on Aug 30, 2017.

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