SINGAPORE (Mar 2): Prosecution witness Henry Tjoa in court on Monday said he was concerned that he would be charged for market manipulation “from the very first day” he was roped into market rolling operations by alleged 2013 penny stock crash masterminds John Soh Chee Wen and Quah Su-Ling.
However, he maintained that he only took instructions from Soh and Quah, as well as other brokers and remisiers in the alleged masterminds’ “inner circle”, such as Ken Tai Chee Ming and Dick Gwee Yow Pin.
A former top remisier with Phillip Securities before succumbing to bankruptcy in October 2013, Tjoa was one of those used by Soh and Quah to allegedly manipulate shares in LionGold, Blumont Group and Asiasons Capital (now Attilan Group).
The eventual collapse of the counters in October 2013 had wiped out some $8 billion in market value.
Tjoa was declared a bankrupt after he could not repay his brokerage some $17 million in trading losses following the crash
Under cross examination by Soh’s defence counsel, senior counsel N Sreenivasan of K&L Gates Straits Law, Tjoa admitted that he was aware that market manipulation was going on back in March and April 2013.
“Yes, I knew of the manipulation because I would occasionally attend meetings, so I know about the rolling over of shares,” said Tjoa.
However, he denied acting on his own, but vehemently insisted that all of his actions were a result of instructions from either Soh, Quah, Tai or Gwee.
Sreenivasan went on to grill Tjoa about the involvement of the four in Tjoa’s trades. In particular, the defence counsel honed in on instructions from Tai, the broker who had introduced Tjoa to Soh and Quah in the middle of 2011.
Tai, who was also called as a prosecution witness, had purportedly told Tjoa that the duo were looking for a remisier with a “large limit”. Tjoa’s had a “global limit” of $30 million in August 2012, which more than doubled to $65 million by July 2013.
“When these activities were going on, is it right to say that all or the bulk of instructions came from Tai?” asked Sreenivasan.
Tjoa agreed, but stressed that this was only for a period of time.
From end-2011 to early-2012, Tjoa said that Tai had given him most of the instructions, with no involvement from Quah whatsoever.
By mid-2012, Quah had allegedly taken on a “gradual involvement”, while Soh was never actually involved in the rolling over of the shares.
Mismatch between phone calls, trades
“If we take your evidence in totality, for every day there is a trade, there should be an instruction. If there are no instructions, the number of trades should be zero,” said Sreenivasan, adding that for every period of activity, the court could expect communication between Tjoa and Tai, or Tai and Quah.
Tjoa agreed.
Sreenivasan then directed the court’s attention to Tjoa’s phone records on Aug 2, 2012. The prosecution had proposed a convention of instructions being given five minutes before the actual trade was conducted.
On the day in question, Tjoa’s first trade for the shares had been at 11.03am. However, phone records revealed that Tai had called Tjoa’s assistant at 10.56am, while Soh had called Tai at 11.04am. These did not tally with the prosecution’s allowance of five minutes.
On Nov 8, 2012, there was also only one enter and it had resulted in a trade being completed at 12.23pm. However, there were two phone calls that took place at 8.40am and 10.42am respectively.
Eliminating the possibility of the parties using disposable phones, which had come into the picture “much later”, Sreenivasan pinpointed discrepancies between the records of calls and trades which should have been better aligned should Tjoa rely solely on instructions via phone to carry out trades.
“The other possibility is that you’re not telling the truth,” said Sreenivasan.
The trial resumes on Tuesday, when Sreenivasan will continue his cross-examination of Tjoa.
What the 2013 Penny Stock Crash trial is about
John Soh Chee Wen is the alleged mastermind behind the penny stock crash of 2013, which prosecutors have called “the most audacious, extensive and injurious market manipulation scheme ever in Singapore”.
Together with his alleged co-conspirator and girlfriend Quah Su-Ling, Soh and his associates are alleged to have been behind the massive rise and sudden collapse of shares in Blumont Group, LionGold Corp and Asiasons Capital (now Attilan Group), which wiped out some $8 billion in market value.
Subscribers can click here to read our 8-page special pullout on the penny stock crash trial.
Don’t miss out on these highlights in the penny stock saga so far:
Third tranche of witnesses (From Jan 2, 2020)
- John Soh claimed ex-SGX chief regulator Teng fed him updates on CAD probe: Prosecution witness
- Witness Ken Tai admits to cheating alleged masterminds, making millions of dollars in market manipulation scheme
- John Soh threatened to 'run down' integrity of witnesses, claims former abettor Ken Tai
- Prosecution witness Ken Tai concedes alleged mastermind John Soh did not tell him to 'lie to' or 'mislead' authorities
- Counsels clash over possible impeachment of former abettor-turned-prosecution witness Ken Tai
- Prosecution witness Ken Tai admits to using omnibus accounts to hide illegal 'wash trades'
- Witness Ken Tai claims to have left queues in the system not for own benefit but to prevent 'haunted counters'
- Prosecution witness Ken Tai earned $8,588 worth of commissions in a day from 'churning' LionGold shares, defence counsel claims
Second tranche of witnesses (Oct 1, 2019 to Oct 31, 2019)
- John Soh trial resumes with a peek into deceit, betrayal in 'inner circle'
- Prosecution witness Ken Tai reveals more stock brokers involved in 'market rolling' web
- More tales of jealousy, betrayal emerge in penny stock trial
- Witness Ken Tai 'disgusted' by the way boss John Soh treated his closest allies
- Witness Ken Tai admits to market manipulation for his own gain after lengthy cross-examination
- IPCO office was 'admin centre' for penny stock scandal, witness reveals
- Prosecution witness reveals Quah Su-Ling seldom in IPCO office; says took instructions mostly from Goh Hin Calm
- CGS-CIMB, DBS Vickers deny knowledge of unauthorised third-party instructions
- Overseas calls from Malaysian phone number to Singapore 'traceable,' Singtel representative reveals
- Witness admits brokerage did not conduct internal investigation into accounts despite CAD, MAS probe
- Lawyers clash over 'incomplete' disclosure of data retrieved from phones linked to market manipulation scheme
- Court hears of 'empire' building dreams amid love triangle woes with John Soh
- Alleged penny stock mastermind John Soh target of pregnancy plot, defence counsels suggest
- John Soh's ex-lover took 'extreme actions,' witness reveals
- Witness makes series of contradictory statements, blames 'undue stress'
- Prosecution seeks to impeach 'hostile witness'
First tranche of witnesses (March 11, 2019 to May 24, 2019)
- John Soh, alleged mastermind behind penny stock crash arrested; to be charged on Friday
- John Soh, Quah Su-Ling and Goh Hin Calm set to be charged
- John Soh Chee Wen and Quah Su-Ling charged in largest market manipulation scheme in Singapore’s history
- Charges slapped on masterminds of penny stock scheme cast new light on old reports
- Prosecutors confirm links between ISR Capital and John Soh
- John Soh-linked ISR Capital’s CEO Quah Su Yin resigns
- Penny stock saga’s alleged mastermind John Soh denied bail; faces total of 188 charges
- John Soh could face longest-ever jail term for financial crime in Singapore
- John Soh's legal team from WongPartnership discharges itself
- John Soh's 'treasurer' Goh quits as interim CEO of IPCO
- Defence lawyers for alleged masterminds attempt to pin 2013 penny stock crash on forced selling
- 2013 penny stock crash case to go to trial
- Alleged 'treasurer' Goh Hin Calm to testify against Soh, Quah
- Penny stock crash scandal's 'treasurer' sentenced to three years' jail
- Goh Hin Calm confirmed as prosecution witness as penny stock crash trial kicks off
- The charismatic bankrupt who allegedly pulled the strings behind Singapore's largest stock manipulation scandal
- Inner workings of penny stock scandal revealed by first prosecution witness
- Prosecution witness coached by investigating officer, claims John Soh's lawyer
- Quah Su-Ling's lawyer accuses prosecution witness of 'inventing evidence', front-running
- Ex-remisier admits to conducting trades without third-party authorisation from account holders
- Ex-remisier Ng denies being coached; RHB trader Alex Chew admits to telling the whole truth only in third statement
- 'Fearful' prosecution witness admits even third statement might not have been the whole truth
- John Soh gave presentation on 'mothership' Blumont at LionGold's offices, says prosecution witness Andy Lee
- Prosecution witness Lee accused of lying and concealing facts in court
- New witness claims Quah Su-Ling was 'hysterical' when asked about settlement of losses
- More telephone records reveal Quah's hand behind trades; private bank Coutts wrote off $4.7 mil from penny stock crash
- Witness shocked by alleged breaches in trading regulations
- SGX restrictions could have caused 2013 penny stocks crash, says Lim & Tan director
- John Soh's former girlfriend had full control of bank account used in trading, court hears
- Quah's employee delivered cash payments for 8 accounts, court hears
- Witness cites 'clerical oversight' as defence alleges lack of anti-money laundering checks
- Ex-Maybank Kim Eng dealer admits Soh gave orders on trades in 3 accounts
- Counsels argue over how witnesses' conditioned statements were prepared and used
- Witnesses say John Soh, Quah Su-Ling directed 2013 stock manipulation trades
