HONG KONG: Former Morgan Stanley managing director Du Jun's insider trading trial ended yesterday, with Hong Kong District Court Judge Andrew Chan saying he would deliver his verdict on September 10.

Du has pleaded not guilty to nine counts of insider dealing and one count related to unlawfully advising his wife to deal in shares of CITIC Resources Holdings Ltd in 2007.

Prosecution lawyer Charlotte Draycott told the court that Du became aware of CITIC Resources' plan to buy a mainland oilfield while assisting the company in selling bonds. He bought 26.7 million shares of the company for about HK$87 million ($11 million) between February and April 2007 and sold half of them in July for a profit of about HK$33.4 million after a May 8 announcement of a deal, she said.

Du faces up to seven years in prison, the maximum that can be handed down by the district court. He pleaded not guilty, his lawyer Alexander King arguing Du would not have sought and gained approval to trade in the shares from Morgan Stanley's compliance department if he had known the information he had was relevant.

The case is the biggest insider trading prosecution brought by Hong Kong's securities watchdog in terms of the amount involved since it became a criminal offense in 2003.

Bloomberg News

(HK Edition 07/30/2009 page4)