SEC files criminal complaint against former IFEC head Wichai
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a criminal complaint against Wichai Thavornwattanayong, former chairman of Inter Far East Energy Corporation (IFEC), with the Economic Crime Suppression Division on the grounds of performing duties dishonestly when he failed to disclose IFEC’s default on its bills of exchange (B/E).
In addition, the SEC has instructed IFEC directors and the persons whom IFEC identified as directors via the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) to solve the listed company’s problems urgently and to disclose their individual clarifications to the public by March 5.
While he was IFEC chairman, Wichai failed to have the company clarify to the SET the issue of B/E default circulated in the news at the time, which has caused IFEC to be suspended from trading on the bourse since January 12.
This incident, however, worked for Wichai’s benefit because his IFEC shares of more than 57.46 million used as collateral for the company’s margin trading were not subject to force selling, the SEC said on Monday.
As a result, Wichai was able to remain an IFEC shareholder and exercise his voting right to select company directors at three shareholders’ meetings in 2017, it added.
Concurrently, the SEC is inspecting the case of IFEC’s investment money in a renewable-energy project, as raised by investors, and other complaints.
Any person’s act found to be liable to any offence under the Securities and Exchange Act shall be subject to legal proceedings in due course, the regulator said.
In any case, filing a criminal complaint against Wichai commences the criminal-justice administration process whereby the consideration of whether the defendant is guilty is under the inquiry officer’s investigation, the public attorney’s prosecution, and the court's jurisdiction, respectively.
In addition, being named in the complaint has caused Wichai to have untrustworthy characteristics for being a director and executive of issuing and listed companies and he is therefore banned from holding such positions, the SEC explained.
