Malaysia legislation

Section 55

of SECURITIES COMMISSION (AMENDMENT) ACT 2015

Section 55

The principal Act is amended by inserting after section 148

the following sections:

“Permitted disclosure in civil enforcement proceedings 148a. (1) In any civil enforcement proceedings by the

Commission, the Commission may be ordered to give discovery of or produce for inspection under Order 24 of the Rules of Court 2012 [P.U. (A) 205/2012] the following documents which are or have been in the Commission’s possession, custody or power as a result of the performance or exercise by the Commission of any of its functions under the securities laws:

(a)

any document voluntarily produced or disclosed by the defendant to the Commission pursuant to the exercise of the Commission’s powers under the securities laws;

(b)

any document seized from the defendant or its officer or agent pursuant to section 128;

(c)

any list prepared by the Commission and signed by the defendant or his officer or agent pursuant to section 129;

(d)

any correspondence between the Commission and the defendant or his solicitors or agents;

(e)

any statement of the defendant recorded by the

Commission under sections 31x and 134;

(f)

any notices served to the defendant under subsections 31x(1), 128(5) and 134(1);

(g)

trading information relating to the defendant’s trading activities which the Commission relies on or will rely on in the civil proceedings; and

(h)

any document that the Commission intends to tender in the civil proceedings.

Securities Commission (Amendment)

(2)

The Commission may not be ordered to give discovery of or produce for inspection under Order 24 of the Rules of Court 2012 any document apart from those listed in subsection (1) unless the court is of the opinion that there are strong and exceptional grounds and it is not injurious to public interest, to order the Commission to give discovery of or produce for inspection of such document.

(3)

The court shall not make an order under subsection (2)

in respect of the following documents:

(a)

any documents, other than documents referred to in subsection (1), which are or have been in the possession, custody or power of the Commission as a result of the performance or exercise by the Commission of any of its supervisory and enforcement functions or powers under the securities laws;

(b)

complaints, reports or requests received by the

Commission to investigate or provide assistance on any possible or alleged contravention of the securities laws;

(c)

the Commission’s internal documents;

(d)

any correspondence or communication between the

Commission and—

(i)

any public officer;

(ii)

any statutory body;

(iii)

any foreign supervisory authority;

(iv)

any stock exchange, derivatives exchange, recognized market, clearing house or central depository;

(v)

any person engaged by the Commission to assist its investigation; or

(vi)

any person who has filed a complaint or made a report or request to the Commission pursuant to paragraph (b);

(e)

any document or copy of such document, sent to or received by the Commission from, persons specified under paragraph (d); and

(f)

all statements recorded by the Commission under sections 31x and 134 other than statements recorded from the defendant.

(4)

This section shall prevail and have full force and effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith, or contrary thereto, contained in the Rules of Court 2012 or any provision of the securities laws or any written law or any rule of law or practice relating to discovery and inspection of documents in civil proceedings.

Confidentiality of supervisory information 148b. (1) Without affecting the generality of section 148, where the Commission produces any document or information in relation to—

(a)

any rating assigned by the Commission to; or

(b)

any supervisory assessment made by the Commission on, any person specified under subsection 126(1), the person, or any of its directors, officers or auditors shall not disclose the document or information to any other person, unless authorized by the Commission.

(2)

Any person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable with imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or be liable to a fine not exceeding one million ringgit or to both.”.

Amendment of section 150

Read in full context — SECURITIES COMMISSION (AMENDMENT) ACT 2015 →