Soh kept co-accused Quah away from share promotion activities

Over two days on May 25 and 26 at the High Court, Soh said they did not plot to manipulate the market, as Quah cross-examined him. He however did not deny promoting LionGold, one of the three penny stocks involved.

But there was no discussion between him and her because there was no such plan in the first place. Her involvement, the court was told, was as a “committed investor” in Soh’s plan to promote LionGold as the next big mining stock.

Soh also told the court he kept Quah out of some meetings as he found her “a bit too emotional” and he preferred “not to deal with that”.

At times, it was also because of the clubby nature of the men involved. “Sometimes, I would exclude the ladies, especially when we got closer because it would get more delicate when discussing issues that were sensitive,” Soh said.

Witnesses called by the prosecution had earlier said that Quah was seen with Soh at the LionGold office three out of 10 times. “She wasn’t there all the time. She has her own career,” countered Soh, referring to her then job as CEO of IPCO International.

He, however, acknowledged that she would often go to the LionGold office to have lunch or pick him up at the end of the day.

But given their close relationship, Soh acknowledged that he may have casually spoken to Quah on what he had been doing with LionGold.

The duo, who became acquainted around two decades ago, entered into a relationship around 2012 to 2013 after Soh’s wife died.

Quah also tried to put forth the view that her alleged involvement in the saga is based on a conspiracy theory. “I’m not sure if it's the DPPs’ (deputy public prosecutors) case that it is because of my relationship with John that I am a conspirator,” she said.

She is referring to a conspiracy charge which is said to occur when two people are seen to have an agreement as well as an intent to act on a common objective and purpose.

The common purpose that Soh and Quah allegedly shared was orchestrating Singapore’s largest share manipulation scheme between 2012 and 2013, involving three penny stocks which besides LionGold (renamed Shen Yao Holdings) was Blumont Group and Asiasons Capital, which has been delisted.

These three counters — collectively referred to as BAL — surged from late 2012 to October 2013 before a sudden crash destroyed some $8 billion in market value.

As she began her cross examination, Quah appeared a little frazzled, requiring Justice Hoo Sheau Peng to step in at one point to say, “what you should focus on now, because this is the evidential part of it, is that you know the facts and what happened”.

The judge went on to say that she cannot give Quah legal advice, but suggested that Quah focus on the facts and what had happened because that is “the evidential part of it”.

Quah was cross-examining Soh herself as her legal team had resigned after she could not keep up with the fees. She had also chosen not to take the stand, citing the fact that she has no legal representation.

A ‘horrible’ day

During her cross examination of Soh, Quah tried to flag that she would not be in her current predicament if not for the role of Goldman Sachs. She used to have an account with the US bank and pledged the BAL shares she held in return for financing the purchase of even more shares.

But as described by Jason Moo — who testified on behalf of Goldman earlier in the trial — the bank had grown increasingly uncomfortable with the surging share prices of BAL and decided “it should be in a position” to sell those shares held as collateral.

On the morning of Oct 2, 2013 — one day after the Singapore Exchange (SGX) queried Blumont along the lines of whether its share price should be at such a high level — Goldman gave Quah around three hours’ notice that her line would be yanked. Quah could not rustle up the more than US$60 million ($79.5 million) she was obliged to pay. With that, Goldman started selling her shares and the big crash happened on Oct 4.

Earlier, the court was told by witnesses such as Ken Tai Chee Ming and Henry Tjoa Sang Hi that Quah was together in a meeting on Oct 4 with Soh and a couple of other close associates who were all trying to come to grips with the crash.

Quah told the court that she could not have been present for any such meetings on that day as she was actually talking to Tan Bong Loo, who was then the relationship manager for her Goldman account. She said she tried to get him to give his testimony but he couldn’t be found. “Last I heard he is a missionary,” she said.

She also tried to present audio recordings of her call with Tan — purportedly made on Oct 4, 2013 — to prove her point. Quah said those recordings were part of discovery when she and Goldman had their legal fight in London.

However, Justice Hoo said the recordings had nothing to do with Soh and thus should not be admitted.

Soh agreed with Quah that she was not at the meetings on Oct 4. “At that time, after my private discussions, I would have been swarmed with people like Peter Chen. I’m not sure if people like Dick Gwee would have come there but no, you were not there,” he recounted. Peter Chen was the former director of business and corporate development at LionGold, while Gwee was Soh's friend for around four decades.

Quah then asked Soh whether he remembered what kind of day she was having. “I cannot remember, but it was a horrible day for everyone in our own respective spheres,” Soh replied.

Drawing reference to evidence given by witnesses for the prosecution, Quah said that Soh had identified her as someone who would probably be charged, due to the saga.

“Do you think I was doing something illegal then?” she asked Soh.

“Of course not. Not then, not now,” he replied emphatically, adding that he had made such a statement because of the way in which the questions were angled during the investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD).

A lack of finesse?

During the course of the trial, Quah has been referred to by several pseudonyms. For example, the brokers who allegedly helped Soh and Quah trade called her Towkay Neo, or lady boss in Hokkien.

Former banker Adeline Cheng Jo-Ee — who was Quah’s romantic rival — had a different perspective. Cheng, who runs her own firm Alethia Asset Management, called Quah at different points in time “Aunty” or “Girl Friday”.

But Cheng’s references to Quah were also used by the latter to downplay her alleged role in this saga. Quah asked Soh if she had ever tried to give him and his network of high net worth individuals any investment or banking advice.

She also asked if he agrees that what she did was mainly to pass on information, relay messages or attend some deal meetings.

“Yes, most of the time,” said Soh.

“So isn’t this one of the reasons why Cheng Jo-Ee would refer to me as a ‘Girl Friday’, because I don't have the finesse or the industry knowledge as a banker?” asked Quah.

“Your Honour, that would have been the case. I think she (Cheng) obviously wanted to elevate herself above the ‘Girl Friday’ status that she attributed to Ms Quah, but that would have been close to the truth of what Ms Quah was doing,” replied Soh.

He also told the court that Cheng was also not aggressive in their dealings - at the start. “She actually took it as a matter of fact that I was closer to Quah, but as it went on, she set her ambitions higher and it obviously led to a lot of volatile situations,” he added.

Soh also said that Cheng did not act like a professional banker when he first met, but later on, Soh found out she was actually “quite good at what she does” and had a knack for layering and choosing the right bonds.

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.

Soh told the court his intimate relationship with Cheng started off around end 2012 and went on all the way till sometime in 2016. At this time, he said the relationship was “off and on” with either of them walking out many times after they fought. He even told the court that Cheng had refused to return a watch of sentimental value that she allegedly took from him.

Quah then asked Soh on how he had appeased Cheng. The easiest way, he responded, was to recommend as much business as he could to Cheng so she was kept occupied. “At the same time, I did tell her that …” said Soh, adding with a softer voice, “I’ll be disengaging from my relationship with Ms Quah,” he said, to which Quah put on a rather resigned look.

Quah had not been aware of Soh’s intimate relationship with Cheng, the court heard. She then asked Soh about the possibility that a lot of his communications with Cheng were misrepresentations.

“I would say very, very much so, because I was very busy with what I wanted to do and what I thought that the coming to fruition of all the roadmap milestones for LionGold, and all I wanted was to buy peace,” he replied.

The trial continues with the prosecution cross-examining Soh.