Proposed SEC laws to curb crooks to be finalised in July
View(s):Proposed new legislation that would ensure violators of stock market rules are slapped huge fines or ordered to return profits from ‘dirty’ deals is close to be finalised under amendments to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Act. SEC officials said the commission is awaiting one member’s comments to present it to the parliament.
“We had hoped to finalize the Act at the last commission meeting on Tuesday and get ready to present it to the parliament, but couldn’t do so because one commission member’s comments were not ready. We have already ironed out many issues that commission members had with the draft Act and we are confident that at next month’s commission meeting we can finalize everything,” a SEC official told the Business Times.
The proposed amendments provide the SEC with the authority to enforce fines as against criminal liability now in force.
The official explained that in other countries, those who breach (SEC) regulations are typically required to pay both fines and return ‘dirty’ money.
The SEC believes this is a better deterrent than enforcing criminal penalties. “This is also practiced in Malaysia where the burden of proof is lesser than in criminal sanctions. The proof is on the balance of probability,” the official added.
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