Trading rules a 'disgrace'

Prime Minister Helen Clark has called for a "clean-up" of insider-trading regulations following the Herald's naming of Aucklander Paul Hyslop as the businessman who made $40,000 by using leaked information.

Both the Serious Fraud Office and the Securities Commission interviewed Mr Hyslop and two other share traders who handled an internal Fletcher Challenge document.

But although Mr Hyslop has admitted making money by using the information, he cannot be prosecuted because he is too far down the chain of people who viewed the document.

On Thursday he abandoned a High Court application banning the Herald from naming him.

Speaking in Auckland yesterday, the Prime Minister agreed emphatically that insider-trading prosecution laws should be changed.

She said that the Government was not happy with the present laws, which limited who could be prosecuted.

She said the Fletcher Challenge case had illustrated the need for a "clean-up" of the rules.

"It is disgraceful."