| The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced today that it had temporarily suspended the registrations of Mr Leong Sai Cheong (Leong), a dealer's representative under both the Securities Ordinance and the Commodities Trading Ordinance, for one month. The SFC's action stemmed from an investigation into the dealings during the period 11 August 1997 to 14 August 1997 in the shares of Dah Bang (Holdings) Limited (DBH). At that time, Leong worked as a dealer's representative for Lippo Securities Limited and Lippo Futures Limited. It was found that Leong had executed 15 orders for two clients in suspicious circumstances and he was negligent in failing to realize that after executing the orders the holdings of the two clients would remain the same. Leong's failure had the potential to give the impression that there was a greater interest in the shares of DBH than there actually was. The SFC concluded that Leong's said failure impugned his fitness and properness as a registered person. In deciding on the one month suspension the SFC took into account that Leong's fault was the failure to safeguard the integrity of the market rather than manipulating the market for DBH shares. |