To: Francois Goelo who wrote (6776 ) 2/10/2000 12:05:00 AM From: Sir Auric Goldfinger Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 10354
Won't work this time around: "Philippine SEC Warns BW Insider-Trading May Not Stick Manila, Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- An insider trading case against property and online bingo company BW Resources Corp. may be impossible to prove, said Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Perfecto Yasay, two days before the first report on the investigation is due to be filed. 'We will have a hard time proving insider trading,' Yasay said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel. 'It will not be an easy battle because (in this country) the holders of economic power are holders of political power as well.' Yasay this week said he will resign from the SEC effective March 25. The decision comes after he clashed with Philippine President Joseph Estrada, whom he accuses of ordering the regulatory agency to drop an investigation of BW Resources and exonerate a key shareholder. Governors of the Philippine Stock Exchange convened after a six-hour meeting and may meet again tomorrow. The exchange plans to submit by Friday a report of its investigation of BW Resources on allegations of insider trading and stock manipulation, Chairwoman Trinidad Kalaw said. Yasay said the SEC would not make the report public immediately, preferring to study it first. The SEC may only be able to prove 'market fraud', such as 'washed sales, artificial price movements and non-disclosure of material information,' said Yasay. The chief securities regulator testified under oath before a Senate inquiry this month that Estrada told him to terminate an investigation and clear Dante Tan, a presidential friend and large BW Resources shareholder, of allegations of wrongdoing. BW Resources caught the attention of stock exchange and SEC officials last year when its shares surged as much as 5,300 percent even though the company had less than $300 in revenue. The SEC terminated its investigation in November, saying it didn't want to interfere with the exchange's probe. An initial report by both bodies said Tan had engineered the stock's surge through fictitious trades involving about a dozen brokers. Based on the stock exchange report, the SEC must decide whether to investigate further or open a prosecution. Yasay said the Philippines' securities law is inadequate and has prevented the SEC from successfully prosecuting investors who are guilty of insider trading. Feb/09/2000 7:48 "