Lawbreakers must be punished: House
Lawbreakers must be punished: House
JAKARTA (JP): Members of the House of Representatives (DPR)
urged the Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) yesterday
to take stringent action against those caught violating capital
market rulings.
"A punishment is necessary to bring stock trading activities
back on to the right track," Syaiful Anwar, the chairman of the
Trade, Banking and Capital Market Commission of the House, said.
Tadjuddin Noer Said and Aberson Marle Sihaloho, both of the
Budgetary Commission, also expressed the same warning, saying
that the capital market watchdog's disciplinary measure is
important in securing fair trading practices.
The House members' warnings were issued following reports of
an alleged unfair transaction on Bank Mashill's shares on the
Jakarta Stock Exchange.
Late last month, Tito Sulistio, a former president of the
dissolved over-the-counter market and his associates bought
around 17 percent of the bank's shares. Two weeks later, he
announced his plan to sell his shares in the bank to Amir
Gunawan, owner of a Singapore-based company, who at the time
already held around 16 percent of the bank's shares.
The stock trading maneuver not only resulted in a significant
increase in the price of Bank Mashill shares but also drew sharp
criticism from capital market analysts.
The analysts charged Tito with intentionally issuing "noisy"
statements after his deal to push up the price, a strategy which
could have given him a large capital gain.
The analysts also said that Tito's plan was engineered to help
Gunawan engineer a hostile takeover against Bank Mashill's
management.
By buying Tito's shares, Gunawan would have controlled 31
percent of the bank's shares without having to contend with the
tender offer regulation. The purchase of Tito's shares would pave
the way for Gunawan to control the bank's management by buying
some more shares from other individual investors through the
market.
According to the tender offer regulation, any party wanting to
own 20 percent of a listed company's shares should be announced
to the public.
The House members said that the capital market watchdog should
improve the trading surveillance so that a "strange" trading
practice could be detected.
"Bapepam should investigate the Mashill shares transaction and
take legal measures if the bank' share transaction was really
unfair," he said, saying that such an approach is important to
maintain the public's confidence in the country's capital market.
Bapepam chairman I Putu Gede Ary Suta said yesterday that he
had summoned all parties involved in the transactions of the
Mashill Bank shares.
He, however, refused to explain measures which could be taken
by the capital market watchdog, if the transactions had broken
the rule.
"I don't want to influence the team which is now doing the
investigation," he said. (hen)