Bangkok--9 Jul--Master Mind Communications
The founder and president of L.V. Technology Public Company Limited (LVT), Hans Jorgen Nielsen, has resigned from all positions on the company’s Board of Directors on a temporary basis in order to fight insider-trading charges being levied against him by the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC).
“I have decided to resign in good faith so that I can contest the charges, which are groundless,” Mr. Nielsen said in a statement today (July 9, 2013) as the company informed the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) of his decision to resign from the positions of LVT president, executive director and chairman of the company’s executive committee.
The resignation is temporary for the duration of legal proceedings in the case. In the meantime, Mr. Nielsen will serve as “senior advisor” giving advice on engineering, marketing and customer relations.
Asked if the sudden changes will have any adverse impact on LVT, the company’s chairman Thanik Siriwattaprayoon and managing director Mr. Vichai Tantikulananta said Mr. Nielsen’s resignation will not affect LVT’s ongoing operations as the company forges ahead with more overseas jobs.
Alongside the resignation, Mr. Nielsen today (July 9. 2013) also submitted a petition to the SEC secretary general requesting the appointment of a new investigation committee to conduct a new probe since the previous investigation was “unjust”.
The insider-trading charges against Mr. Nielsen were prompted by complaints to the SEC, believed to be filed by former LVT employees who were dismissed from the company, and centred on allegations that Mr. Nielsen had sold over 3 million LVT shares in early May 2010, one week before an LVT Board meeting when losses from the company’s first-quarter operations were reported and led to a drop in the LVT share prices. Mr. Nielsen had just assumed the post of managing director at the start of that same month.
In his statement today, Mr. Nielsen said the insider-trading charges were groundless since he had been travelling overseas most of the time to seek new jobs for the company and only knew of the losses on the day of the Board meeting (May 14, 2010). The loss for that quarter was not expected since the company’s management at the time had projected consolidated LVT group profits of 183 million baht for the year 2010.
According to Mr. Nielsen, his two daughters had authorized him to sell a block of TPIPL shares to raise money earlier in 2010 so that the family could convert LVT warrants into ordinary shares in order to help improve LVT’s cash flow. The LVT shares were subsequently sold on May 7, 2010 after the dividend-entitlement closing date.
“I sold my daughters’ shares on May 7, after coming back from India that same morning, and left for Saudi Arabia the next day. I came back again on May 14, the same day as the Board meeting, and had no prior knowledge of the Q1 results that were being presented to the Board on that day,” Mr. Nielsen said.
Mr. Nielsen also contended that the SEC investigation (that was launched last year after the commission had received anonymous complaints) was unjust and violated his rights.
“The investigation committee questioned me all day, without giving me any lunch break, which constitutes a breach of human rights. They also failed to read my testimonies for me to acknowledge and failed to provide any English translation,” Mr. Nielsen stated in the petition to the SEC today.
The LVT founder added that the SEC investigation committee also failed to allow him to present witnesses and documental evidence to nullify the SEC charges.