KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 18 — The Securities Commission (SC) Malaysia has declined to comment on alleged transactions by senior officials of Ambank last December.

Its executive chairman Datuk Syed Zaid Albar said while SC is aware of the matter, the commission cannot comment at the moment.

"We are aware of this and if you are to ask whether or not this is considered insider trading, we of course cannot make any comment or determination until the SC has reviewed all the evidence and circumstances relating to the matter,” Syed Zaid told reporters during a virtual press conference today.

On March 8, news reports revealed that three more senior executives at AMMB Holdings Bhd (AmBank) sold their shares in late December.

According to news reports, a March 5 Bursa filing reported one executive as selling 85,600 shares at RM3.66 per share on December 29, 2020, with another selling all his 67,800 shares for RM3.64 each the same day.

Yet another senior executive sold all 66,650 shares in hand for RM3.65 per share on December 30, 2020.

Previous filings also disclosed at least four other of the bank’s executives disposing tens of thousands of shares each at around the same time for similar prices.

On March 3, Ambank’s share price plummeted after it announced its agreement to a RM2.83 billion settlement with the Ministry of Finance (MoF) for its role in the 1MDB scandal.

When asked to offer more details on the settlement, Syed Zaid said the SC is unable to comment on the matter.

"On the recent Ambank settlement, the MoF has issued a statement on the settlement. Since the settlement is still in progress we are not able to comment any further,” he said.

Since the announcement was made by Ambank on February 26, critics raised questions why the negotiations were done at a hasty pace and lacked transparency. 

Former chairman of the Public Accounts Committee Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed was among those who criticised the negotiations and raised concerns on how the Emergency has denied AmBank minority shareholders the right to challenge the bank’s settlement.