Investors can apply for compensation

The Securities and Futures Investors Protection Center will start taking complaints from investors who plan to seek compensation from Summit Computer Technology Co (皇統科技), the center said yesterday.

The deadline for filing complaints is Dec. 21, said Michael Chao (趙順生), deputy director of the center's legal department, who expects around 1,000 claims to be filed.

The stock exchange restricted share trading in Summit Computer, the nation's largest educational CD title distributor, in mid-September after chairman Lee Huang-kuei (李皇葵) admitted the company had inflated sales by NT$3.7 billion between 2001 and this year, in an effort to improve its image.

Investors who bought the company's shares between April 29, 2002 and Sept. 15 this year will be entitled to compensations for their losses, Chao said.

In addition to Summit Computer investors, people who bought Procomp Informatics Co (博達科技) stocks and convertible bonds between April 8, 1999 and June 15 this year, will also be entitled to seek compensation.

Chao said the center has already received around 7,500 applications totalling NT$3.3 billion in compensation from Procomp investors.

Another 2,000 claims may be filed before the Dec. 21 deadline, which could bring the total amount of compensation sought to NT$4 billion, he said.