Thai Union appoints new chairman, vice chairman, and director after scandal

Thai Union has announced the appointments of new chairman, vice chairman, and director following an insider trading scandal.

In a 9 May meeting, the board of directors of the Bangkok, Thailand-based seafood company appointed President and CEO Thiraphong Chansiri to be the chairman of the board, Thai Union announced in a note to The Stock Exchange of Thailand.

Kirati Assakul, an independent director, will become the vice chairman of the board and lead independent director to help “balance the power between the board and the management according to the principles of good corporate governance.”

Another new appointed director is Nakorn Niruttinanon, who replaced former director Chuan Tangchansiri. The new appointments came into force from 9 May.

In addition, the company’s board of directors is seeking a new director for its nomination, remuneration, and corporate governance committee to replace Kraisorn Chansiri, the company’s founder and former chairman, who resigned after receiving civil sanctions from Thailand’s Security and Exchange Commission for alleged insider trading. Tangchansiri also resigned from the company’s board after being fined by the commission.

An investigation by Thailand’s Security and Exchange Commission alleged nine Thai Union shareholders engaged in insider trading between October and November 2017, in advance of the public release of Thai Union’s Q3 2017 performance, which indicated a significant increase in profit. According to the SEC, Kraisorn Chansiri and Tangchansiri obtained advance notice of the profit-increase and bought shares of Thai Union with the expectation the positive performance would boost the company’s stock price. Additionally, they passed the inside information on to family members and others, who also bought Thai Union shares.

Kraisorn Chansiri was fined THB 3.4 million (USD 101,600, EUR 92,000) and was barred from serving as a director or executive of any publicly-traded company in Thailand for 14 months. Tangchansiri was fined THB 1.7 million (USD 50,800, EUR 46,000) and was prohibited from serving as a director executive of any Thai public company for 14 months.

Photo courtesy of Thai Union