Soh hits back at 'rogue' brokers' 'total lies', says manipulations were 'practical impossibilities'

For someone who had been involved in the stock markets for at least three decades, it was not just about getting reacquainted with the use of a calculator. At Soh’s examination in chief by his lawyer N Sreenivasan of K&L Gates Straits Law, Soh had plenty of things to say about the brokers who had earlier testified against him.

“You don’t have to prove you are innocent. You don’t have to prove what happened. You just have to answer the prosecution’s case. That is our primary job here,” Sreenivasan reminded Soh as he kicked off the third day of his examination in chief on May 17.

Soh, who is on trial together with his co-accused Quah Su-Ling, told the court that the prosecution had been deceived by the brokers. He said their accounts of what went on during the share manipulation allegedly orchestrated by Soh and

Quah were “practical impossibilities”. Although the brokers told the court they did not know what they were doing, in reality, they had made millions of dollars, said Soh. “A lot of things they have been saying have been total lies to protect their licences,” he said.

‘Rogue traders’
On the stand, Soh took aim at four of these brokers: Henry Tjoa Sang Hi, Ken Tai Chee Ming, Gabriel Gan Tze Wee and Leroy Lau Chee Heong — all of whom were supposedly part of his inner circle. Gan and Lau were, at different points in time, brokers with DMG Securities, while Tai was running his own firm, Algo Capital, at the time when the alleged offences took place. Tjoa, meanwhile, was a remisier with Phillip Securities.

Soh called them “rogue traders” because these brokers had “admitted [to] their cooperation and alliance” which had begun in July 2013. Soh pointed out how they had used similar narratives, like how Soh did not have enough credit in the
trading accounts to keep up with the volume of stocks he and Quah allegedly traded on contra.

In addition, Soh claimed that many trades done by Tai, Gan and Tjoa between July 2012 and October 2013 when the alleged manipulation took place, were not authorised. “I want to show that these trades have nothing to do with me and the scale of which they did would have overwhelmed the market,” said Soh.

“I have no idea why in the world the rogues want to fix me,” he went on to say. “Now, we see the extent and the scale of their activities, the devices they use — it is totally brazen,” he said when shown a series of trades that had been made
across different platforms.

Soh believed the brokers began to pin the responsibility of manipulating the three penny stocks on him after knowing he was on the radar of the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD).

Sreenivasan then proceeded to highlight that the witnesses had initially given statements that were exculpatory of Soh. The brokers started putting up “alternative stories” concocted together as more details about the alleged manipulation were dug up by investigators, said Soh. “The motivation for these rogues was that their hands were so dirty that they would have been jailed for all kinds of things,” he stressed.

One of the concocted stories, according to Soh, was that the trades that had led up to the 2013 crash were based on instructions given by him. “It has nothing to do with mine or Su-Ling’s directions,” he said when shown records of a series of trades made on different dates.

Soh, citing a series of trades made on July 12, 2012, noted that an “excessive amount of amendments and deletes” had been made. He also noted there had been 120 “spoofs” made by Tai. Spoofing occurs when a trader places a large or- der to buy or sell a stock without any intention of executing the trade. This creates an impression that the demand for the stock is high and constitutes a form of market manipulation.

“Ken Tai is a master of this,” remarked Soh. He added that Tjoa then followed up soon after on Tai’s spoofs with “layering”. Layering happens when multiple visible orders are entered on one side of the market at multiple price tiers. This subsequently shifts the midpoint towards the opposite side of the market. “Tjoa and Tai were using manipulative methods,” said Soh.

According to him, the two brokers made up the single largest entity controlling Blumont Group. The counter accounted for $5.5 billion of the $8 billion drop in market capitalisation that occurred during the 2013 crash.

Drawing reference to a series of call logs, Soh noted that there was no evidence that he gave the two trading representatives instructions. He then pointed out that “when cornered” in court, Tai said he received Soh’s instructions either through a Bangla or disposable phone or BBMs (BlackBerry messages).

Soh claimed he was not a great fan of Bangla phones. He said he only started using them in 2014 after the authorities
initiated their investigations on him and his associates. Quah also did not give instructions because she did not receive daily market reports at the beginning and close of trading. “Somewhere along the lines, their stories failed to find legs,” said Soh.

Soh said his suspicions that Tjoa and Tai were controlling the trading of LionGold Corp and Asiasons Capital shares were only aroused after the committal hearing for the trial. “I was totally flabbergasted to know of the extent of the collaborations,” he told the court. With the benefit of hindsight, Soh now thinks that Tai and Tjoa were on a frolic of their own.

Thinking back, Soh reckoned that Tai’s “manipulative behaviour” had started even before the period leading up to the crash. “Ken Tai [had] total control of those accounts. He could have done anything at his whim and fancy,” he said.

“If I had done, sanctioned, or worst, been participating [in these trades], I would have been defrauding all the people who have been with me for the past 30 years,” said Soh. “Su-Ling would have ditched me because I would have been defrauding her,” he added, referring to his romantic partner and co-accused whom he had known for two decades.

Was there a syndicate?
Soh said his biggest sore point about the case was the so-called Manhattan House Syndicate or MHS. The term was coined in reference to the office premises used by Tjoa and Tai. The office, which is located at Chin Swee Road, had been financed by both Tjoa and Tai. Coincidentally, a travel agency owned by the family of Dick Gwee — another of Soh’s close associates — was also located at the Manhattan House. Besides the brokers, Gwee had earlier testified against Soh, where among other things, he said Soh had asked him to take the blame when CAD started their questioning. “We can’t draw any conclusions, but it is what it is,” said Soh.

He denied the notion that he directed the operations of MHS. If so, Tai would have asked Soh to pay for the share of
the costs of setting up the operations. “People like Ken Tai worships money,” he added.

In addition, the court had heard earlier a series of voice recordings made by Gan between himself and Soh after the crash. Soh was heard coaching Gan on what to say when asked by the CAD, which constituted evidence to charge Soh with witness tampering. Gan, according to Soh, “was clearly baiting me to say whatever he wanted [me] to”.

The common thread that had emerged throughout the trial was that Soh was the man that had connected all the different parties and he was also the one giving trading instructions to the brokers.

When asked, Soh said that was because “for want of a better word, [he was] seen as a centre of influence, an opinion leader. People do take what I say into consideration. Whether they take it in, I don’t know”.

Although Soh admitted to the court he was an “unabashed promoter of LionGold”, he said he had “always veered from giving instructions” after many people blamed him for losses in the 1990s following the Omega Securities episode in Malaysia.

He said he could not have been giving trading instructions all the time. “Every trading representative goes out there to say John Soh gave me clear instructions [but there were] many clear days when no communication and trades happened,” he said.

For instance, while people like Gan might have sent several messages a day, Soh said he might only reply to a few messages or might also not have responded for days. Still, Soh insisted he had been open and transparent in his dealings with all the brokers.

Throughout his interaction with them, Soh noted that he had not been asked to sign any third-party authorisation forms. “In the first place, it is not relevant to me because I am not giving instructions,” he pointed out.

When quizzed by Sreenivasan on why many of the brokers had wanted to hang out with him, he responded that there were “many reasons”. These included wanting to “get intel and bringing deals to me”. Many of these deals were related to mining.

The hearing continues.