SINGAPORE (Feb 12): The long-awaited trial for the penny stock crash saga could finally start in October this year, according to lawyers in court today at a criminal motion hearing for alleged mastermind John Soh Chee Wen.
Soh’s new defence lawyers from Straits Law Practice, led by senior counsel N. Sreenivasan, today argued that their client should be allowed bail ahead of the trial.
“The inability to prepare for this trial will be fatal. I’m not being hyperbolic about it,” says Sreenivasan.
Soh, a Malaysian businessman, has been held in remand since Nov 24, 2016. The 59-year-old faces 188 charges, which range from cheating to witness tampering.
Soh and his two alleged co-conspirators, Quah Su Ling and Goh Hin Calm, are said to have manipulated three penny stocks: Asiasons Capital (since renamed Attilan Group), Blumont Group and LionGold Corp.
The meteoric surge in prices of these three stocks came to a spectacular halt in October 2013, leading to $8 billion in market value to be wiped out in the penny stock crash.
Prosecutors had earlier drawn comparison between Soh’s case to that of former Asia Pacific Brewery executive Chia Teck Leng, who in 2003 was sentenced to 42 years’ jail for cheating banks of $117 million.
“I know it is going to be longer than 42 years if my client is convicted,” Sreenivasan says. He argues that the team suffers from much inconvenience in preparation of Soh’s trial as he is held in a prison.
As such, the defence lawyers are asking for Soh to be granted pre-trial home detention.
Prosecutors, however, have urged the court to deny Soh bail due to the risk of witness tampering. In addition, prosecutors argue that Soh is a flight risk.
They have produced audio recordings made secretly by a former DMG broker, Gabriel Gan. In the recordings, Soh could be heard in discussion with Gan on things such as what to do if investigators came calling.
However, Sreenivsan points out that these audio recordings were not made prior to February 2016. That was when Soh, already under investigation, first appeared in court to apply for his impounded passport released so that he can go back Malaysia.
Then, the court was told that investigations were on-going, and that the prosecution will file charges by the end of 2016.
Sreenivasan suggests that Gan had made the audio recordings at the behest of the investigators. “The prosecution need to come 110% clean,” he says.
This point was refuted by the prosecution. “There’s nothing to hide. I am very disturbed. That is certainly not the case,” says deputy public prosecutor Peter Koy.
In his submissions, Koy pointed out that Soh’s words have to be discounted. For example, in an October 2017 affidavit filed by Soh, he alleged that the prison authorities took away from his cell notes and documents pertaining to the case.
Prison authorities have denied these allegations, saying that they had only removed unrelated books and magazines.
In his response, Soh then said that the notes and documents were within the books and magazines. He said that it hadn’t occurred to him to protest then, as the cell search had taken place too suddenly.
“He had taken a materially inconsistent position,” says Koy.
The hearing, which is taking place before Justice Hoo Sheau Peng, will continue on Feb 14.
Soh’s previous defence team from WongPartnership, led by senior counsel Tan Chee Meng, had to resign because of a potential conflict. According to Sreenivasan, Tan was made known last November that a former client of his has become a prosecution witness.
