In another case, action was taken against a chief executive over his company's failure to issue a holding statement on an impending corporate action even after it was queried for unusual trading activity in its shares.

It claimed it was unaware of any information that could cause this but announced a fund-raising exercise several days later.

The SGX found that at the time of the query, the CEO was in talks with a potential investor for the funding exercise and was planning to seek the board's approval.

It said a holding statement should have been issued as that would have told investors that negotiations were ongoing without any certainty of its success.

The SGX also took action against the sponsor for failing to advise the company to issue such a statement even though it was aware of the CEO's negotiations. The sponsor explained that a holding statement was not considered as the company had previously announced corporate restructuring plans.

But the SGX said the company's intention for a fund-raising exercise was never disclosed.