Thai tycoon resigns from Bangkok Dusit, Bangkok Airways after regulator's order

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Thai tycoon resigns from Bangkok Dusit, Bangkok Airways after regulator's order

 

Bangkok Airways logo is seen at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok May 14, 2016. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai tycoon Prasert Prasarttong-osoth resigned on Monday as CEO of Bangkok DusitMedical Services <BDMS.BK> and Bangkok Airways <BA.BK> after the regulator barred him from holding executive positions in listed Thai firms citing share manipulation.

 

Prasert also stepped down as chairman of Bangkok Dusit, Thailand's largest hospital network, and vice chairman of Bangkok Airways, the companies said in separate statements.

 

Late on Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand said Prasert, his daughter Poramaporn and another executive Narumon Chainaknan executed and matched trading in Bangkok Airways shares between Nov 2015 and Jan 2016 that caused price and volume to be inconsistent with market conditions.

 

They were fined 499.45 million baht ($15.75 million) and barred from holding directorships and executive positions in listed companies.

 

Poramaporn, chief operating officer at Bangkok Dusit, and Narumon, executive secretary to the CEO of Bangkok Airways, also resigned from their positions on Monday.

 

The accused will "prove their innocence in the matter", the companies said.

 

Currently, Prasert holds 18.4 percent of Bangkok Dusit and nearly 6 percent in Bangkok Airways, while Poramaporn, has a 6.49 percent stake in the boutique airline, according to Refinitiv data.

 

Bangkok Airways shares fell more than 5 percent while Bangkok Dusit slid 7 percent on Monday morning.

 

($1 = 31.7200 baht)

 

(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-01-21

[Lodestone]

Everytime I see the word tycoon in one of these stories, I always read it as "mafia boss."

[quandow]

I thought about making a contraction of "Thai tycoon."

 

It wasn't pretty.

[HalfLight]

Does anyone think for a millisecond that these people didn't know what they were doing was illegal? Not a chance.

 

If a Thai is rich, he's dishonest and came by his wealth dishonestly. Just ask Chanocha or Prawit or Prem.

 

Among lots of others.

 

 

[hotchilli]

What I don't understand is when you have more money than you could ever count let alone spend why start cheating the system for more.

It's a mentality I just don't get, greed begets greed !!!

[HalfLight]

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

What I don't understand is when you have more money than you could ever count let alone spend why start cheating the system for more.

It's a mentality I just don't get, greed begets greed !!!

It's a psychological flaw, a kind of perversion if you will, to compete for a better quality mate by being able to demonstrate that you're richer than the next guy.  But it gets out of hand. Normally, this biological urge is mitigated (subject to education, which is where Thailand is unfortunate) by the cultural boundary of legality, and many (perhaps most) people will not cross that line. In Thailand however, the likelihood of getting away with illegality is quite high courtesy of an incompetent police force and a corrupt judiciary, so the disincentive of incurring the shame of going to prison is out-balanced by the incentive of being able to demonstrate that you've got more money, and are able to provide material benefits, and protection to offspring. Powerful motivators for a certain class of woman. Birds of a feather.

 

Added to this is the addiction to the chemicals which the brain releases when a stressful situation is resolved, and a profit made. Included in this are endorphins, Dopamine Serotonin. In this example the people who are compelled to gather together increasingly more riches, are no better than a heroin or crack cocaine addict. Which might be, and ought to be, a sobering thought.

 

Of course this is my opinion, others (particularly those who are also smitten with the urge to accumulate more and more wealth) might disagree. Doesn't make it wrong though, just makes it inconvenient and demeaning.

 

 

[GreasyFingers]

4 hours ago, hotchilli said:

What I don't understand is when you have more money than you could ever count let alone spend why start cheating the system for more.

It's a mentality I just don't get, greed begets greed !!!

Yes, they must be a different breed to us mere mortals.

[Oziex1]

5 hours ago, hotchilli said:

What I don't understand is when you have more money than you could ever count let alone spend why start cheating the system for more.

It's a mentality I just don't get, greed begets greed !!!

Yes it's an evil and wide spread disease, a pestilence.