Hong Kong charged a former staffer at the Hong Kong stock exchange for allegedly accepting bribes linked to a suspected insider trading case, according to a statement from the city’s anti-corruption body.

Charges were also brought against two other individuals for perverting the course of public justice in a criminal investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Securities and Futures Commission into suspected insider dealings.

The HKEX employee, a former assistant vice-president at the IT Team of the Listing Division, faces two counts of a public servant accepting an advantage for disclosing confidential information of listed companies.

They were all released on bail, while their case comes up at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on Tuesday.

The alleged crimes stem from June 2024, with bribes totaling HK$150,000 ($19,271). The exchange staffer had “accessed price-related confidential information that he illegally retrieved from the email system of the HKEX,” the ICAC said.  

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The ICAC said it would not rule out taking further enforcement actions or prosecuting other implicated individuals. The HKEX has been fully assisting the two agencies, according to the statement.

“HKEX has been reviewing its operations and is fully committed to continuously enhancing the robustness of its internal controls and processes,” the bourse said in a statement. “HKEX is unable to comment further on the matter at this time.”