Securities regulator acts to silence voices of price manipulators

LIAO YINGQIANG, an internet-based news anchor specializing in comments about the securities market, was fined 129 million yuan ($20.2 million) by the China Securities Regulatory Commission for manipulating share prices. Beijing News comments:

Liao was fined because the commission found he had bought certain stocks via other people's accounts under his control, then openly commented on the market and recommended his audiences to buy them, and then sold them when their prices went up.

His case shows that not only enterprises, but also influential individuals can influence the market. For example, certain "economists" have done ample research on the stock market and gained popularity via media outlets, which has prompted people to trust their judgments. However, when these "economists" abuse the trust for profit, they break the law.

What Liao did is only one of the illegal deeds of his group. Some of his counterparts did it the other way, by encouraging audiences to sell certain stocks then buying them via their controlled accounts.

Such deeds are strictly prohibited by the law. Moreover, such illegal deeds pose a threat to the orderly workings of the market.

Liao is not the only person that committed such illegal deeds. As early as 2008, the commission had punished a "securities market analyst" for similar behavior.

What makes Liao's case special is that he is only a news anchor, not a securities market investment consultant. Most previous cases involved professional investment consultants. That shows the commission is eyeing a wider range to enforce the law, which would be much stricter than before.

Besides, the commission punished Liao according to a quite vague clause of the law, namely "controlling the market through other means". That shows the law is not so detailed when it comes to nonprofessionals controlling the securities market. The law should be amended and improved so as to prevent similar cases.