SYDNEY –
An Australian court has sentenced the former head of China’s Hanlong Mining
Investment Pty Ltd for eight years, in one of the country’s harshest sentences
for insider trading.

The
Supreme Court of New South Wales state handed down the sentence of eight years
and three months to Hui Xiao, also known as Steven Xiao, on three charges
relating to 102 illegal trades while he was managing director of Hanlong.

“This
sentence demonstrates the seriousness of insider trading,” Cathie Armour,
commissioner of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, said in a
statement.

“Maintaining
confidence in the integrity of our financial markets is vital,” Armour
added.

In
September, Xiao pleaded guilty to two charges of insider trading involving 65
illegal trades related to Sundance Resources Ltd and Bannerman Resources Ltd in
July 2011, when he was Hanlong Mining’s managing director.

Hanlong
made takeover offers for Sundance and Bannerman in 2011.

Xiao
also admitted to a third set of insider trading offences related to 37 illegal
trades carried out in 2011.

He has
been in custody since being extradited from Hong Kong to Australia in October
2014.

Another
former Hanlong executive, Bo Shi Zhu, also known as Calvin Zhu, was sentenced
to two years and three months in jail in Australia in 2013, having pleaded
guilty to three counts of insider trading between 2006 and 2011.

Hanlong called off a $1.3
billion offer for Perth-based African iron ore hopeful Sundance Resources in
April 2013 after missing funding deadlines. Talks with uranium miner Bannerman
on a $144 million offer ended in late 2011 due to similar funding issues.

– Reuters