DSI gives update on 5 cases

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) yesterday issued updates on five cases of alleged stock corruption involving three suspended capital shares.

The probes followed complaints from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding Polaris Capital (Polar), Energy Earth (Earth), and Inter-Fareast Energy Cooperation (IFEC).

All three were delisted by the SEC in 2018 after failures to submit their financial statements, which left many investors damaged as all of them were popular shares.

In the first case, accepted by the DSI on Dec 17, 2018, Polaris Capital executives were accused of creating an artificial debt of 3.6 billion baht to enter the company into a rehab plan.

A report was sent to the Prosecutor’s Office of Special Cases on Feb 7.

The latter three cases in the statement focused on accusations against Energy Earth in 2017, 2019, and 2020, respectively.

In 2017, the company was sued for using counterfeit documents to secure import financing from Krung Thai Bank, which left the bank financially damaged.

Energy Earth’s use of a fabricated coal import document to seek a 12-billion-baht loan from the bank, which is the company’s largest creditor, led the bank to file a complaint with the DSI.

The company was also accused of cheating creditors in 2019 and concealing information about its coal mine from the SEC in 2020.

The reports were now with the secretary-general of the National Anti-Corruption Commission for consideration.

Inter-Fareast Energy Cooperation executives, meanwhile, were accused of causing one billion baht of damages.