Singapore files charges in penny stocks market manipulation case
25/11/2016 11:26
SINGAPORE, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Singapore authorities charged
three people on Friday for their alleged role in the
city-state's largest market manipulation case - a penny stocks
crash in 2013 - that wiped out billions of dollars in the share
prices of three local companies in a few days.
Soh Chee Wen, known as John Soh, and Quah Su-Ling were
charged for orchestrating a "massive fraud" to manipulate the
market in shares of Blumont Group Ltd BLUM.SI , Asiasons
Capital Ltd ATTI.SI and LionGold Corp Ltd LION.SI between
August 2012 and October 2013, Singapore's Attorney-General's
Chambers, the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) and the
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a joint statement.
Soh is a bankrupt Malaysian businessman, while Quah was the
chief executive of IPCO International IPCO.SI when the offence
took place, the statement from the authorities said.
"Their unlawful scheme involved exploiting over 180 trading
accounts, which they secretly controlled, to create an illusion
of liquidity and demand for these shares by making thousands of
manipulative trades in each of the three counters, and to
control the supply of these shares available to the market so as
to influence the price of these counters," the authorities said.
Goh Hin Calm, a key accomplice of Soh and Quah and the
senior finance and administration manager of IPCO at that time,
was also charged by the authorities. He was offered bail of
S$750,000. Quah was offered bail of S$4 million, while Soh was
remanded until Dec. 20, when a further mention will be held.
Shares in Blumont, LionGold and Asiasons lost more than S$8
billion ($5.6 billion) in combined market value in a few trading
sessions in October 2013 after huge run-ups earlier that year
had turned them briefly into billion dollar companies.
The rout dented investor confidence in Singapore's stock
market and contributed to a fall in trading volume.
"The investigations covered extensive documentary evidence
comprising over 2 million emails, half a million trade orders,
and thousands of telephone records and financial statements,"
the authorities said.
Reuters was not immediately able to reach the accused
executives for comment.
Trading in shares in the three companies was briefly
suspended in October 2013 after the price collapse. Asiasons has
been renamed as Attilan Group.
Since the crash, the Singapore stock exchange has taken many
steps to shore up liquidity and boost trading volumes.
Responding to calls from brokers and investors to relinquish its
dual role, the exchange unveiled plans in July to transfer its
front-line regulatory functions to a separate subsidiary that
will be governed by its own board of directors. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1A41MP
($1 = 1.4286 Singapore dollars)
(Reporting by Anshuman Daga; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
((anshuman.daga@tr.com; +65 64035676; Reuters Messaging:
anshuman.daga.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: SINGAPORE FRAUD/