PETALING JAYA: The Court of Appeal has unanimously affirmed the High Court’s decision in 2022 which found former WCT Bhd deputy managing director Goh Chin Liong (Goh) and Ara Holdings Sdn Bhd director Leong Ah Chai (Leong) liable for insider trading.
In a statement, the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) said the Court of Appeal also affirmed the High Court’s judgment, which had awarded the SC a total of RM5.83mil for the breaches.
The SC said the Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed both appeals with costs of RM100,000 each and upheld the High Court’s judgment as the court found no appealable error that warranted appellate intervention.
“The Court further affirmed the High Court’s judgment ordering Goh and Leong to each pay RM2.5mil as disgorgement of losses avoided, RM300,000 as civil penalty and costs of RM75,000 to the SC.”
The SC first filed a civil claim against Goh and Leong in 2015 for insider trading breaches under sections 188(2) and 188(3) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007.
“Evidence by the SC showed that Goh had communicated material non-public information to Leong concerning the cancellation of a contract for the proposed construction of a racecourse in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
“The contract was earlier awarded to a joint-venture company set up by WCT and Arabtec Construction LLC.”
Leong subsequently disposed of 1.64 million WCT shares in Ara Holdings’ trading account between Jan 2 and 5, 2009. The then High Court judge ruled in favour of the SC after a full trial.
Previously on May 26, 2026, the SC had succeeded in its appeal to the High Court to reinstate garnishee orders against Goh and Leong, allowing the SC to enforce recovery of the RM5.83mil judgment sum arising from the insider trading breaches by both defendants.
“Following the disposal of the appeal today, the SC will proceed with next steps to recover the judgment sum from the defendants.
“The SC views insider trading as a serious breach as it undermines the integrity of the capital market and seriously erodes investor confidence. The Court of Appeal’s decision sends a clear message that such misconduct will not be tolerated.”
The SC said it will continue to pursue enforcement actions to uphold market integrity and public confidence in Malaysia’s capital market.
