MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former Falklands governor fined for insider trading

Fall from grace: Richard Ralph was found guilty of insider trading

Former Governor of the Falkland Islands and a past British ambassador to Peru has been fined by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for insider dealing in an AIM-listed mining company which he chaired, reports Thursday edition of The Times.

Richard Ralph, also the former British ambassador to Romania, has been fined £117,691.41 by the City regulator after it was discovered he asked a friend to buy shares in Monterrico Metals, where Mr Ralph was chairman. At the time, Monterrico Metals was in takeover talks with Zijin, a Chinese mining company. Mr Ralph's friend, Filip Boyen, who bought the shares, has also been fined by the FSA to the tune of £81,982.95. Although the takeover talks were known to be taking place, the FSA found that Mr Ralph deliberately asked his friend to buy shares, worth about £30,000, in order to conceal his true identity. At the time, Mr Ralph was closely involved in the takeover talks and would have been expected to publicly disclose and dealing in company shares. As well as buying the shares for Mr Ralph, Mr Boyen bought shares for himself worth £77,162.05. After a takeover deal was announced to the market, Mr Boyen sold both men's holdings, generating a collective profit of £42,174.36. The fine, which would have been 30% higher without the full co-operation and an early settlement by the two men, is the second highest to be levied by the FSA for insider dealing. Trading based on insider information is a notoriously difficult crime to prove. Mr. Boyen was an experienced investor and businessman, according to the FSA. Margaret Cole, director of enforcement at the FSA, said: "Mr Ralph held a position of trust as the executive chairman of Monterrico but he deliberately used inside information about his company's takeover for financial gain. "Mr. Boyen misused inside information about Mr. Ralph's secret dealing to his own advantage by buying more shares for himself. "This sort of self-serving behavior by experienced business professionals has the potential to damage confidence in financial markets." The regulator, which last year, embarked on a highly public crackdown against market abuse has only levied three previous fines for insider deal, two of them this year. In July, the FSA fined John Shevlin, an IT technician at the Body Shop, £85,000 for insider dealing in the high street retailer using contracts for difference. In September, it fined Steven Harrison, a former hedge fund manager, £52,500 for inadvertently receiving insider information. In October 2006, James Boyd Parker was fined £250,000 for market abuse. Both Mr. Ralph and Mr. Boyen accepted their wrongdoing and paid their fines.