I REFER to Monday's commentary by Mr Goh Eng Yeow, 'Protecting the integrity of SGXnet'.

While making a case against SGXnet being used by China-based bourses to post a series of allegations against the sacked financial controller, Mr Goh objected to Mr Sun Jiangrong, chairman of Sino-Environment Technology Group, disclosing to me on the telephone on Nov30 that the company had $40 million in an unnamed bank account.

Mr Goh claims that the disclosure was made in a selective manner and that it makes a mockery of efforts to level the playing field by ensuring that all investors have the same access to material information, simultaneously.

The duty to post information on SGXnet does not lie with the Securities Investors Association (Singapore) (SIAS) but with the company.

If the chairman saw fit to release the information relating to the bank account to SIAS, in answer to my query about the bank account, one would have expected the chairman to instruct his company officers or directors, who are very experienced, to post the information on SGXnet.

The chairman was informed that SIAS would release the information to minority shareholders and the press at the dialogue session that evening. It was neither agreed nor expected that SIAS would be the only source of dissemination. The failure to post the information on the SGXnet is, therefore, a matter for SGX to pursue.

It is unfortunate that Mr Goh has seen fit to allege that SIAS has, therefore, acted against the interest of retail investors. Illogical as it may be, Mr Goh was fully aware that the counter had been suspended and the information was released after the closure of the market. In the circumstances, one wonders how the interest of retail investors could have been adversely affected.

SIAS will continue to champion the interest of retail investors to the best of our ability.

David Gerald
President & CEO
Securities Investors Association (Singapore)

EDITOR'S NOTE: Mr Goh Eng Yeow was not alone in expressing concern. As he noted in his commentary, the SGX had said in a letter to Sino-Environment, posted on SGXnet on Dec 2, that the information disclosed to SIAS was 'material and has been selectively disclosed'.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.