Facts in the BEBS Share Price Manipulation Case
The Financial Services Authority (OJK) together with the Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim) of the Indonesian Police searched the Mirae Asset Sekuritas office in the Treasury Tower Building, SCBD, South Jakarta, on Thursday (5/3). Investigators seized several documents in multiple boxes during the search. Here are the latest facts CNN Indonesia has compiled about the Mirae Asset penny stock case. Two suspects
Executive Director of Financial Services Investigation at OJK, Irjen Daniel Bolly Hyronimus Tifaona, said the market manipulation scheme occurred from 2020 to 2022. ‘The suspects we have questioned and their status has been elevated; there are two, namely AS and M,’ he told reporters on Wednesday (4/3). Daniel explained, based on their roles, ASS is the Beneficial Owner of PT BEBS and MWK is a former Director of Investment Banking at Mirae Asset. He said the two carried out insider trading, IPO manipulation, and dummy stock transactions. He added that the investigators have questioned a total of 25 witnesses from Mirae Asset, BEBS, banks, and nominees.
Manipulation of the IPO and dummy transactions
He said the two perpetrators conducted stock trading in which they presented false material facts to mislead investors into purchasing the shares. ‘Relating to the failure to report related parties receiving fixed allotment in the initial public offering (IPO) and the presentation of IPO fund utilisation reports that did not reflect the actual conditions,’ he explained. In addition, OJK found dummy transactions or insider trading of the shares controlled through a network of affiliated entities and nominees. Insider trading itself is illegal in stock investment, where investors gain information about profits from transactions in shares from the relevant company. ‘Consisting of inter-party transactions involving 7 corporate entities and 58 individual nominee entities, executed by six operators under the control of the suspects,’ he said. BEBS shares rose 7,150 percent, with a valuation of Rp14.5 trillion
As a result of the manipulation, Daniel said BEBS stock prices jumped by as much as 7,150 percent, with the latest valuation reaching Rp14.5 trillion. ‘The sequence of transactions is suspected to have caused the BEBS price on the regular market to rise significantly by around 7,150 percent,’ he noted. He explained that the valuation comes from a total of 2 billion BEBS shares traded on the exchange. Daniel said OJK has frozen BEBS shares suspected of being the result of price manipulation. ‘The total value of all Rp14.5 trillion comes from shares we froze; there are about 2 billion shares at around Rp7,000 per share,’ he added. Mirae Asset speaks out
PT Mirae Asset Sekuritas Indonesia spoke up regarding the search of their office by OJK and Bareskrim Polri. Management assured they would respect the legal process and cooperate with ongoing investigations. ‘As part of the ongoing legal process, PT Mirae Asset Sekuritas Indonesia received visits from Bareskrim & OJK for clarifications and information gathering,’ the management said in a written statement. Mirae Asset stated that today’s search is a continuation of the ongoing investigatory development into a matter that has been underway for some time, without detailing the case in question. ‘The company respects and cooperates with the ongoing examinations and fully supports the request for data and information as required,’ the management added. (fra/tfq/fra)[Gambas:Video CNN]