Businessman Ishak Ismail charged with making misleading statement and insider trading

KUALA LUMPUR: Businessman Datuk Ishak Ismail (pix) was charged in the sessions court today with making a misleading statement and two counts of insider trading involving more than 58 million units of shares six years ago.
Ishak, 65, claimed trial to all the charges and was granted RM600,000 bail in one surety pending trial in November.
On the first charge, Ishak was charged with making a misleading statement, which was published in The Star newspaper dated June 5, 2010.
The statement was said to likely induce the purchase of securities of Kenmark Industrial Co. (M) Berhad by others. Ishak was a major shareholder of Kenmark Industrial.
He is alleged to have committed the offence at Menara Star, No. 15, Jalan 16/11, Petaling Jaya, between June 4 and June 5, 2010.
The charge under Section 177(b) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (Act 671) is punishable under Section 182 of the same act, and carries a jail term up to 10 years and a minimum fine of RM1 million upon conviction.
On the second charge, Ishak is alleged to have disposed of 27,691,900 units of Kenmark Industrial Co. (M) Berhad shares held by Unioncity Enterprises Limited, while in possession of information which had a material effect on the price or value of the shares.
The information was that two of the company's clients had gone bankrupt and EON Bank Berhad did not agree to uplift the receivership of Kenmark Paper Sdn Bhd as at June 8, 2010 and he ought to have known such information that was not available generally.
On the third charge, Ishak is charged with disposing of 31,000,000 units of Kenmark shares held by BHLB Trustee Berhad for a discretionary trust for his family, while in possession of the same information, which was not available generally.
He is alleged to have committed the offences at Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad, 10th floor, Exchange Square, Bukit Kewangan, Kuala Lumpur on June 9, 2010 and June 11, 2010, respectively.
The two charges are under Section 188(2)(a) of the same Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (Act 671) and punishable under Section 182 of the same act which carries a jail term up to 10 years and a minimum fine of RM1 million, upon conviction.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ros Mawar Rozain suggested RM500,000 bail for all three charges in one surety.
Ishak's lawyer Datuk Tan Hock Chuan asked for a lower bail of RM300,000.
He also asked that his client be allowed to keep his passport as he would be leaving for "umrah" on Tuesday.
He also said Ishak has business overseas and travels frequently, every two to three weeks and sometimes every week.
"His businesses include an oil palm plantation in Palembang, Indonesia, oil refinery, two hotels in South Africa, one in Cape Town and Durban, and another hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia," said Tan, adding that Ishak is also a franchise holder of a pizza company.
Tan said there is a civil case against Ishak over the same matter by the authorities and it was set for a hearing on Tuesday but postponed to another date as Ishak is leaving for his "umrah".
Later, sessions judge Mat Ghani Abdullah granted RM600,000 bail in one surety and fixed July 15 for case management and Nov 7 and 8 for a hearing.
He did not order Ishak to surrender his passport.