The Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) fined 12 traders with 20 000 leva each for insider trading, mediapool.bg said.

The 12 had inside information on two companies, Elektronika AD and Sofia Mel AD.

Two fines of 20 000 leva each were imposed on Simeon Georgiev Lichev for deals with the shares of one company that were misleading to stock exchange dealers and for using inside information in trade for his own profit with shares of the same company.

Lichev, who is the son of the managing director of ELANA Trading brokerage and investment banking services company Georgi Lichev, has inside information on Elektronika AD, of which ELANA was stock broker. Lichev made a number of deals through which he created a false idea of the price of the shares, after which he sold his own shares in the company at higher prices and gained profit, mediapool.bg reported.

A fine of 20 000 leva was imposed on each of the 10 members of the board of directors of Elektronika Commerce 97 AD and of Elektronika Komplekt AD for insider trading.

Konstantinos Kontohristopoulis was fined 20 000 leva for insider trading and for manipulating share prices. As a member of the Loulis Mel Bulgaria EAD board of directors, Kontohristopoulis used inside information in a number of deals with Sofia Mel AD shares, the FSC said.

Not long ago, the FSC fined several leading investment brokerage companies and physical entities for insider trading and for misleading participants in the stock exchange market, mediapool.bg said.