SINGAPORE (Mar 4): Prosecution witness Henry Tjoa, the former Phillips Securities remisier who was once part of the “inner circle” of brokers used by alleged masterminds John Soh Chee Wen and Quah Su-Ling, in court on Wednesday admitted to witness tampering and lying to the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD).
Tjoa was one of the brokers and remisiers allegedly used by the duo to manufacture the massive rise of shares in LionGold Corp, 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.
Under cross-examination by Soh’s lawyer, senior counsel N Sreenivasan of K&L Gates Straits Law, Tjoa was cornered into explaining why he was not entirely truthful during both his interviews with the CAD – first in 2013, and then in 2018.
In the first interview with CAD in 2013, Tjoa had purportedly concealed facts about the market rolling activities that took place in LionGold’s office at Mohamed Sultan Road.
At this office, Tjoa and his three assistants had engaged in the buying and selling of shares, alongside another “inner circle” broker, Ken Tai Chee Ming.
Tai, who also appeared earlier in the penny stock trial as a prosecution witness, had introduced Tjoa to Soh and Quah in 2011.
However, in his statements to CAD, Tjoa had avoided mention of Tai.
“You wanted to hide the operations from the CAD,” said Sreenivasan. “You did not implicate Tai because you wanted to hide your own role in the operations.”
Tjoa agreed. However, he stressed that he had wanted to shield his assistants as well.
“[This was] because the trail would eventually come back to you as you were one of the key players,” Sreenivasan countered.
Tjoa agreed.
Witness tampering, blatant omissions
To coincide with his lies to the authorities, Tjoa had instructed his three assistants to tell untruths when they were questioned as well.
“After the first and second interviews by the CAD, I had a meet-up with my assistants, and asked them to follow what I said,” Tjoa told the court.
However, Tjoa said that when he later decided to come clean with the CAD, he had informed his assistants to “go ahead” with disclosing information in totality.
“Have you been charged with witness tampering?” asked Sreenivasan.
Tjoa replied that he had not.
Later, Sreenivasan also took issue with Tjoa’s omission of what he deemed to be some “imperative details” in the conditioned statements.
Sreenivasan honed in on the fact that Tjoa had only disclosed the involvement of Dick Gwee Yow Pin, another trading representative used in the “inner circle”, in his second conditioned statement recorded on April 18, 2018.
Sreenivasan asked if Tjoa had done this because he was confronted with evidence of Gwee’s involvement, or on his own accord.
Tjoa attested that he had done this on his own, without any form of prompting from the authorities.
“At this point, you were already telling the whole truth. Hence, every part of Gwee’s involvement should have come out when you said this,” said Sreenivasan.
In this conditioned statement, Tjoa had recounted what Sreenivasan described as “painful” details about Gwee. These included facts such as that Gwee was a “Hwa Chong boy” like Tjoa himself, and that he was “friendly”.
However, Sreenivasan pinned down a major factual omission in the statement: Tjoa had failed to disclose how Soh had said that Gwee was there to help Tjoa in the trading of the three counters’ shares and, thereby, assist Soh in the manipulation of the market.
According to Sreenivasan, this was “the most important detail” that should have been disclosed from the get-go.
However, Sreenivasan pointed out that Tjoa only brought up Gwee in his conditioned statement in 2018 – after the case had been taken to trial, during which Gwee’s name had already been mentioned.
“Why didn’t you put this when you told the truth and the complete truth?” asked Sreenivasan. “I’m suggesting to you that it was not mentioned because it was not the truth. You added it later because you wanted to pin down Soh.”
Tjoa disagreed. He argued that the omission was because there had been no questions raised about Gwee’s involvement during that time.
He went on to say that he had added in details about Gwee in his second statement as the deputy public prosecutor had pressed for more details.
“When you changed the story and added in this detail [about Gwee], I’m suggesting that you made it up so you could fix Soh,” said Sreenivasan. “It was something important and you omitted it.”
The trial will resume on Thursday, when Quah’s lawyer, Philip Fong, managing partner of Eversheds Harry Elias, 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)
- Bankrupted remisier Tjoa admits to making commissions of more than $1 mil in a year from market rolling operations
- Prosecution witness Tjoa says feared being charged for market manipulation
- 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
