Share trader fined Rp 100m

JAKARTA (JP): The Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) said on Monday it fined local capital market trader James Rachmat Subekti Rp 100 million (about US$11,765) for market manipulation.

James was implicated in jacking up the price of the preferred shares issued by PT Mas Murni on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) in April, the agency said.

PT Mas Murni issued Rp 2 million preferred shares in April this year. To the market's astonishment, the price of these preferred shares quickly surged over 1,000 percent following its initial listing.

The JSX suspected that the price of Mas Murni preferred shares were formed not through a normal market mechanism, but by an artificial price.

Bapepam is also investigating nine other securities companies related to the preferred share trading.

The companies are PT Sucorinves Sentral Gani, PT Bomar Securities, PT Trimegah Securindo Lestari, PT Harita Kencana Securities, PT Dongsuh Kolibindo Securities, PT Saridaya Persada Sekuritas, PT Kim Eng Securities, PT Asjaya Indosurya Securities and PT Danpac Sekuritas. (udi)