From: kamol@ipied.tu.ac.TH (Kamol Hengkietisak)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.thai
Subject: Bangkok Post Nov 19: Sia Song defends his action
Date: 19 Nov 1992 14:31:46 +1100
Organization: Mail/News gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: munnari.oz.au


SONG Watcharasriroj, who became the centre of interest yesterday 
when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed charges 
against him for share manipulation, said he is ready to fight any 
charge as he believes he has done nothing wrong.
 
Mr Song told Bangkok Post in an interview after the SEC lodged the 
complaint against him that he will stay in the country and await 
an arrest warrant against him.
 
Mr Song later surrendered to the police.
 
However, he counter-charges that the authorities' move to bring 
charges against him was unfair, and will cause adverse effects to 
the stock market.
 
He said: "They charge me of manipulating the price of Bangkok Bank 
of Commerce shares and wanting to take over the bank. However, I 
have said all the time that I invested in this bank's shares 
because of its bright prospects in my view.
 
"I have never sold BBC shares since buying them. I have not made 
any gains from this bank's shares. So how could they charge me 
with manipulating the price?"
 
He denied the charge that he wanted to take over the bank.
 
"Since I bought this bank's shares, I have never expressed any 
interest or intention of taking it over. I bought the shares 
purely for the purpose of long-term investment.
 
"I even publicly stated that if the bank's share price was at a 
level of 30 baht, it was good for investment, but if it was over 
40 baht, it was too expensive. I stated it clearly and publicly. 
Is this what the authorities call manipulation?"
 
He said he had more than 40 stocks in his portfolio, and many of 
them had suffered losses.
 
"Why don't the authorities take this fact into account. If I am a 
manipulator, why have I suffer losses? Is it my fault that I have 
gained profits from stocks I have bought?"
 
Mr Song said he is an ordinary investor and was treated unfairly 
by the authorities.
 
He commented that the move by the authorities would adversely 
affect the stock market and small investors would panic and sell 
their holdings.
 
The SET index yesterday plummeted rapidly after news of the move 
to arrest Mr Song reached the market, sending the prime gauge 
falling by almost 60 points before later rebounding to close at a 
loss of some 23 points.
 
The Finance Ministry had ordered Krung Thai Bank to contribute 
5,000 million baht to a fund set up to shore up the stock market, 
and another 10,000 million baht is expected to be contributed by 
stock brokers to the fund.
 
Mr Song alleged that it was unfair for the Finance Ministry to 
order Krung Thai Bank to contribute 5,000 million baht.
 
"The Finance Ministry is not the only shareholder of the bank. The 
bank is listed on the stock market and it has many small 
shareholders. Is this fair to the small shareholders of the bank?"
 
He also said he had never been contacted by the SEC, although he 
was ready to explain his intention of buying BBC shares to the 
SEC.
 
"They (the authorities) should listen to me first before judging 
that I did wrong."
 
Instead, he said, the SEC and the Finance Ministry announced they 
would take legal action against manipulators.
 
"That caused the stock market to tumble and market capitalisation 
diminished by almost 200,000 million baht. Who will take 
responsibility?"
Newsgroups: soc.culture.thai