The unethical hands that sway the stock market The ways of manipulating the stock market are getting more sophisticated despite serious punishments.  The State Securities Commission (SSC) in mid-September imposed a fine of VND550 million on Phan Sy Hai for violations of regulations. Hai was found using 28 accounts, including three in his name and 25 in other names to manipulate the price of VMD shares of Vimedimex, a pharmacy company, in the months from January to April 2016. During the four months, Hai created artificial demand for VMD shares, causing the share price to fluctuate heavily from VND26,000 to VND40,000. It was estimated that 60,000 VMD shares were transferred in each trading session. Prior to that, in mid-August, an agency imposed a fine of VND600 million on Tran Thi Minh Phuong for manipulating HNG shares of HAGL Agrico. The ways of manipulating the stock market are getting more sophisticated despite serious punishments.  Phuong was found using 42 accounts opened at 16 securities companies to make transactions at HNG in order to create artificial demand. Phuong began this behavior in mid-July 2015, when HNG made debut on the bourse. The sanction was released by SSC on August 10, 2017. During the time when Phuong was active, the HNG price increased, once reaching the peak of VND33,500 per share. After half a year of staying firmly at the peak, HNG prices unexpectedly dropped to below VND10,000 and sometimes to VND5,000 per share. The price of the share still could not bounce back to above face value of VND10,000. A series of other cases have also been discovered. Hoang Duc Dung was fined VND550 million and forced to pay VND400 million to repair the damage after he opened 26 accounts to manipulate TNT shares. Tran Thanh Huu, a member of the management board of Cmistone, has been fined VND705 million for manipulating CMI shares. Tran Thanh Dien was found using his account and seven other accounts to create artificial demand for DAT shares. However, investors commented that the real number of violations is much higher than the number of cases found. Meanwhile, the punishments are not heavy enough and the profits violators can expect are much higher than the fine. Under the laws, violators may face criminal charges. However, if the damages cannot be calculated, they will face administrative fines only. In most cases, the behavior caused serious consequences. With 770 million HNG, HAGL Agrico once had the capitalization value of $1.2 billion. However, later $800 million ‘evaporated’. A lot of investors suffered buying HNG when its price was at peak. It takes long time to deal with the cases because agencies need time to collect proof and conduct an investigation. H. Tu, VNN