OJK Imposes Rp5.7 Billion Fine on Three Parties for IMPC Share Price Manipulation

Jakarta (ANTARA) — The Financial Services Authority (OJK) has imposed administrative sanctions in the form of fines totalling Rp5.7 billion on three parties found guilty of manipulating the share price of PT Impack Pratama Industri Tbk (IMPC) during the period 2016–2022.

The parties involved in the IMPC share price manipulation comprise both corporate and individual actors, namely PT Dana Mitra Kencana and two individuals with the initials MLN and UPT.

“Both groups — corporate and individual — used dozens of nominees. They used investors who had from the outset been deployed by the parties concerned to manipulate prices on the market in carrying out the manipulation of IMPC share transactions,” said Hasan Fawzi, acting Chief Executive for Capital Markets, Derivatives Finance, and Carbon Exchange Supervision at OJK, during a press conference at the Indonesia Stock Exchange building in Jakarta on Friday.

Hasan explained that PT Dana Mitra Kencana used 17 securities accounts to carry out the manipulation of IMPC’s share price, whilst the individual perpetrators MLN and UPT used 12 securities accounts to conduct similar practices.

In addition, the three parties also ran what is described as a stock pooling scheme to move IMPC’s share price. Under this arrangement, the individual perpetrators MLN and UPT acted as providers of investment funds who subsequently withdrew the proceeds from the transactions.

“The modus operandi employed can be described as what they called a stock pooling scheme. This is a scheme that we have successfully uncovered. The significant role of the controlling parties was firstly to provide the funds enabling the purchase transactions to take place, and subsequently those parties received back the proceeds from the sale of shares through the dozen or so client securities accounts under their control,” Hasan disclosed.

Based on its examination findings, OJK stated that the three parties had violated Article 91 of the Capital Markets Law as amended by Article 22 Point 34 of the Financial Sector Development and Strengthening Law (P2SK), as well as Article 92 of the Capital Markets Law as amended by Article 22 Point 35 of the P2SK Law.

“The total sanctions imposed on all the perpetrators amount to Rp5.7 billion,” Hasan said.