Ex-Morgan Stanley MD denies insider trading charges

A former managing director of Morgan Stanley Asia has pleaded not guilty to charges of insider trading in Hong Kong.

Du Jun is accused of nine counts of insider trading, as well as an additional count of counseling a person to buy shares in a listed company prior to the announcement of an acquisition deal.

He was charged in July 2008 by Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission over a 2007 deal involving shares in Citic Resources Holdings.

Prosecutor Charlotte Draycott told the court that at the time, Mr Du worked for Morgan Stanley's fixed-income arm, which was helping Citic issue bonds to finance the acquisition of oil fields.

He was explicitly told that he should not trade in shares of the firm, but nevertheless bought

26.7 million shares of Citic Resources for approximately HK$86 million ($11.1 million), she added.

Mr Du is also alleged to have tipped off his wife to buy shares in the firm prior to the acquisition deals being made public.

If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison, Bloomberg noted. Until 2003, insider trading was only punishable with a fine in Hong Kong.