KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here has fixed Jan 27 to decide on an appeal by the former executive chairman of Repco Holdings Berhad, Low Thiam Hock, on his conviction and sentence of five years’ jail and RM5 million fine for attempting to manipulate the stock market in 1997.
Justice Azhar Abdul Hamid set the date after hearing arguments from deputy public prosecutor Shoba Venu Gobal and lawyer Shafee Abdullah, who represented Low, also known as Repco Low.
On Feb 29, 2016, sessions court judge Mat Ghani Abdullah sentenced Low, 58, to five years in prison and fined him RM5 million after finding him guilty of manipulating Repco Holdings Berhad’s share price after the defence had failed to raise any reasonable doubt at the end of its case.
However, the court granted Low a stay of execution pending an appeal at the High Court and the bail was increased from RM300,000 to RM1.3 million.
In 1999, Low was charged in the sessions court on a charge of instructing a representative of Sime Securities Sdn Bhd to buy Repco Holdings shares by absorbing any offer price of the shares offered by stock sellers on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE).
The act was deemed to have created confusion about the price of the shares on KLSE.
Low, from Kota Kinabalu, was charged with committing the offence at Sime Securities, Level 21, Bangunan Sime Bank, Jalan Sultan Sulaiman, Kuala Lumpur, between 11am and 5pm on Dec 3, 1997.
The charge under Section 84(1) of the Securities Industry Act 1983, read together with Section 88(b) of the same law, provides a minimum fine of RM1 million and imprisonment for up to 10 years.
On Nov 14, 2006, Low was acquitted of the charge by the sessions court without his defence being called, but the prosecution made an appeal.
On Oct 15, 2010, the High Court dismissed the prosecution’s appeal, and the latter filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal, which then ordered Low to enter his defence at the sessions court. - FMT
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