It said a just concluded case of such illegal market activity reflected its lack of tolerance for the misuse of inside information for personal gain.

The SC was commenting on the case of a former senior executive of an IT firm who has been penalised for insider trading committed a decade ago.

Ng Back Heang, who was executive director of Patimas Computers Bhd, has been ordered to pay the SC RM1.24 million, which is three times the losses he would have incurred if not for his involvement in the illegal market activity.

He will also be required to pay a civil penalty of RM700,000 to the SC and will be barred from being appointed as a director of a public-listed company for five years from today.

The High Court also granted the SC costs of RM100,000 at the hearing yesterday.

Ng was alleged to have disposed of 16.5 million shares that he owned in Patimas from May to July 2012 while he had material information that had yet to be released to the public.

The information was in relation to audit queries and issues about suspicious transactions between Patimas and its top debtors.

Ng is the second senior official of Patimas to have been penalised for insider trading.

In April, the SC won a civil suit against Raymond Yap Wee Hin, a former deputy chairman of the company.

Yap was ordered to pay the SC RM3.28 million, which was three times the losses he would have incurred if not for his illegal activity.

Over and above that, he had to pay a civil penalty of RM1 million.