Shanti co-heads Christopher & Lee Ong’s White Collar Crime & Investigations Practice Group, with extensive experience in the field of regulation and enforcement of securities laws.

Having served as a capital market regulator for over 25 years in various roles, she is able to provide legal guidance in the areas of regulatory compliance as well as enforcement of the capital market laws and other white collar offences and breaches.

As a former Deputy Public Prosecutor who headed the Securities Commission’s prosecution and civil enforcement functions, she successfully led complex and contentious issues in the Malaysian courts in areas relating to the capital market laws, criminal procedure and Constitutional matters, from Sessions Court to the apex court, the Federal Court of Malaysia.

Her law reform and advisory background place her in a unique position as she has the depth of understanding of the capital market laws required in the area of regulatory compliance.

Shanti has been a speaker at various fora, providing insight into the capital market laws and corporate governance.

Experience

Capital Markets

• Part of the core team involved in the drafting of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007.
• Drafted various provisions of the securities laws including prospectuses and fund raising.
• Responsible for legal reform for demutualisation of the then Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.
• Responsible for drafting the framework on regulated short selling and securities borrowing and lending.
• Core team involved in the drafting of Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001 and related guidelines for capital market intermediaries.
• Provided advice on various aspects of capital market laws and regulatory compliance.
• Member of the Corporate Law Reform Committee which spearheaded reform of the then Companies Act 1965.
• Actively involved / lead managed the formulation of various SC guidelines involving both the primary and secondary market as well as stock and digital exchanges. These include guidelines on Prospectuses, Price Stabilisation, Recognised markets i.e digital asset exchanges, initial exchange offerings, property crowdfunding, the Licensing Handbook, and various other initiatives involving the stockbroking and fund management segments of the capital market.

White Collar Crime & Investigations

• Successfully represented the SC in criminal cases – dealing with accounting fraud, corporate fraud, market manipulation and insider trading.
• Handled various constitutional challenges raised in SC cases.
• Lead managed the prosecution and civil enforcement efforts of the SC.
• Lead SC’s efforts in the restitution of investors affected by breaches of the law.

Publications

• Author, Capital Market Laws of Malaysia, 2020 Edition, published by LexisNexis.