Oil storage tanks of PSH. — Photo vnbusiness.vn

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam's securities regulator penalised four individuals for market manipulation and 13 others for account lending that enabled manipulation of Nam Sông Hậu Trading Investing Petroleum's shares (PSH).

Based on monitoring and inspection results, the State Securities Commission (SSC) has fined four individuals - Mai Hữu Phúc, Võ Như Thảo, Đỗ Thủy Tiên and Trần Minh Hoàng - VNĐ1.5 billion (US$58.9 million) each for securities market manipulation.

From February 2021 to May 2022, the four used 26 accounts belonging to 15 investors to repeatedly conduct intra-group negotiated transactions involving 5,607,300 shares of PSH, with a total matched value of more than VNĐ91.1 billion.

This was determined to be a violation of securities laws, as the individuals used these accounts to artificially manipulate the supply, demand and price of PSH shares.

As a result, the four individuals were each fined VNĐ1.5 billion for securities market manipulation. Additionally, the regulator issued a decision to apply preventive and deterrent measures against these four individuals for their violations of securities laws and the securities market.

According to the decision, Phúc, Thảo and Tiên have been prohibited from securities trading and holding positions at securities companies, securities investment fund management companies, branches of foreign securities companies and fund management companies in Việt Nam, and securities investment companies for a period of 2 years starting from May 27.

Meanwhile Hoàng has been prohibited from the same activities for a period of 3 years starting from the same date, and the inspection and calculations found that the individuals did not obtain any illegal gains through their violations.

On the stock market, PSH shares logged the biggest daily loss of 7 per cent to close Thursday session at VNĐ7,170 per share. — VNS