On September 19, 2014, the Bureau de décision et de
révision (BDR) granted a request by the
Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) for an
administrative penalty of $9,000 against Jacques Gauthier
(Gauthier), who was President and Chairman of the board of
directors of AAER Inc. (AAER) at the time of the events at
issue.
The AMF accused Gauthier of having contravened Section 187 of
the Québec Securities Act by carrying out
transactions when he knew that AAER had not been retained as a
bidder on the most important call for tenders relating to wind
energy by Hydro-Québec Distribution (Hydro-Québec).
In particular, s. 187 of the Québec Securities Act
provides that the insider cannot trade when he is in possession of
privileged information that is unknown to the public and likely to
influence the decision of a reasonable investor. However, s. 187
also provides that the insider may trade if he is justified in
believing that the information is generally known to the
public.
