FSA loses insider-trading case
Charges of insider brought against the finance director of NeuTec Pharma, Andrew King, where yesterday thrown out of the high court and the defendant left the courtroom with his reputation intact. It was alleged that Mr King passed on insider dealing information regarding a potential takeover to two lawyers who were also acquitted of connected charges.
This is the first failed criminal insider dealing case for the FSA although it is only a minor setback on the road to cleaning-up the UK investment arena. This particular case has been ongoing for some time and obviously Andrew King was very pleased to finally get the chance to clear his name. It will be interesting to see whether this particular failure, for whatever reason, has any impact upon a further 11 insider dealing cases yet to be heard.
There is no doubt that conviction rates as regards the FSA have improved dramatically over the last few years due to better investigative strategies, a larger budget and more focus upon specific areas of the UK market. It is believed that the Conservative party was seriously considering disbanding the FSA but David Cameron would now find it very hard to go down that route.
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