The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) has ruled that a woman violated securities laws by impeding an ASC investigation.
The ASC said Tuesday that a hearing panel has ruled that Meena Singh and breached securities laws and engaged in conduct contrary to the public interest by attempting to withhold information from ASC staff in the course of its investigation into a financial restatement by Genesis Land Development Corp. Singh was a co-founder of the firm, and was the wife of its president and CEO, although she was not an employee or director.
The panel said that withholding information from an investigation into suspected capital market wrongdoing can impede its oversight, and put the public interest at risk, adding, “to state the obvious, it is expected that persons being questioned will tell the truth.”
It has set dates in June and July for both sides to provide written submissions on possible sanctions.
At the same time, the panel also dismissed allegations against Simon Fletcher, former controller of Genesis Land Development, saying that while Fletcher could have have done more to investigate the circumstances that led to the restatement, it is not convinced that his conduct warrants the exercise of its public interest jurisdiction. He was not accused of violating securities law.
The ASC has already entered into settlements with several other people involved in the case.