New blog post: South African insider traders can’t hide any more D-Day for a designated advisor as the Financial Services Board (FSB) invites media to observe the insider trading committee at work. Spare a thought for the first man to be placed in the eye of the media as the FSB invites its large media database to a first. The invites went out on Friday morning and just for a second I thought it was a hoax. You see, the FSB has been offline for a while as they moved to new premises, so I had to treat the invitation with some suspicion. After clarifying that the invite was indeed legitimate I checked with their media spokesperson why they were inviting media now. Was this a special case, was the alleged activity that heinous. No – it appears it was a logistical issue. It appears that their previous premises, while they had working Internet connections didn’t lend itself to public seating. So now the media get to see the alleged non-criminals in the flesh. There is a catch though. It appears that the so-called Enforcement Committee operates like a de facto court. And we all know that the courts are open to the public, unless of course a particular case or issue is being held in camera. There is another far less subtle difference between the country’s courts and the Enforcement Committee. While they – the Enforcement Committee - can fine someone, and the person will pay the fine, there is no admission of guilt, and no criminal case. The media invitation must be sending shivers down the spines of any future non-criminals who have been tagged by the JSE surveillance department. There are a couple of outstanding cases that have yet to see the light of day. So no more anonymity for the white-collar criminals. The downside is that media based in Pretoria, a paltry 55kms away may have to pack a lunch box, spare change of clothing and water bottles for the trip beyond the so-called boerewors curtain.
