The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, building an insider-trading case against a Hong Kong couple accused of improperly trading Dow Jones & Co. shares, is set to formally interview witnesses next week, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Among those expected to sit for depositions in the coming weeks is Dow Jones board member David Li, the report quoted people familiar with the matter as saying.

Mr. Li, chairman and chief executive of Bank of East Asia Ltd., has a history of business and social dealings with a family member of the couple who provided them with funds the SEC says were used to buy Dow Jones stock, according to the report.

The couple apparently bought the stock after News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch privately had raised the idea of buying Dow Jones, but before the resulting 5 billion-dollar offer was made public. The company's stock soared on the news.

In May, the SEC filed civil fraud charges in federal court in Manhattan against Kan King Wong and his wife, Charlotte Ka On Wong Leung, charging them with insider trading in connection with their purchases of 415,000 Dow Jones shares two weeks before the takeover offer was made public.

Source: Xinhua