Picture of John Soh: Bloomberg
It is the first day of the prosecution’s cross-examination and John Soh – the alleged mastermind of the 2013 penny stock saga – was initially adamant that he had not used a Blackberry phone extensively, let alone to give trading instructions, as was suggested by some prosecution witnesses.
To prove this, the self-professed “dinosaur” said he had embarked on an experiment of sorts to use a Blackberry phone for around one to two months to “try to make [him]self a little bit more tech-savvy”.
However, he told the court that he eventually gave up using the device after a few months.
“Not to say that I threw away the device, but I didn’t use it much,” he explained.
Given this context, he said that prosecution witness Ken Tai was “lying” about receiving trading instructions from Soh over Blackberry messages. Tai was supposedly a member of Soh’s inner circle and was running his own firm Algo Capital at the time when the alleged offences took place.
Soh and his co-accused Quah Su-Ling allegedly orchestrated Singapore’s largest share manipulation scheme between 2012 and 2013 involving three penny stocks: Blumont Group, Asiasons Capital, and LionGold, which has been renamed Shen Yao Holdings.
The eventual collapse of these counters – collectively referred to as BAL – in October 2013, wiped out some $8 billion in market value.
Soh’s position on his usage of his Blackberry was challenged when Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Teo Guan Siew showed him a series of messages he had exchanged with Alex Chew, a dealer at RHB Securities.
“I did give instructions to Alex Chew over the device – whatever you see, is what I gave,” Soh said.
“I don’t optimise BBMs (Blackberry Messages) the way they are supposed to be. The way I use a phone is like a 2G,” he added.
At this, DPP Teo put it to Soh that he was changing his evidence.
“I do not think your characterisation of my changing my evidence is correct,” Soh retorted.
DPP Teo then put forth several other instances in which Soh appeared to be giving instructions through BBMs.
“I think you are deliberately misinterpreting the context,” he started. The context in this instance, Soh said was "Ken Tai saying that I used BBM to instruct him, and I think that is what I said very clearly when I said I don't use BBMs. For me to say when I don't use BBMs, when I've seen the thousands of messages I exchanged with Cheng Jo-Ee, come on, I'm not that stupid, Mr Teo".
“I’m not misinterpreting, I’m just reading what you told the court,” DPP Teo responded.
SEE:There is a difference between confirming and reporting instructions, says Soh
“I disagree,” was Soh’s response when pushed if he had been hiding the fact that he had been giving trading instructions to Chew as well as Tai.
Soh went on to tell DPP Teo, "I think you are reading too much, your Honour, I think you are trying to rile me up. I don't think that's correct".
"Mr Soh, I'm not trying to rile you up," DPP Teo rebuked.
"All right, I withdraw that statement," Soh relented.
Soh did not deny that he had been actively promoting LionGold shares. However, to him, promotional advice was not classified as a form of giving instructions, he said.
He noted that he had not given trade instructions between 2012 and 2013, and if at all he may have relayed instructions, but not trade instructions.
Big picture man
Soh’s only “official” link to the three penny stocks was that he was advisor to LionGold’s chairman Tan Sri Nik Ibrahim Kamil between 2012 and 2013.
However, he said he was a little hazy on when his appointment began, since he had been advising Tan Sri Nik since before 2004.
Soh took his role seriously and had “invested [him]self fully in developing a roadmap and what [he] thought would be the best advice to Tan Sri Nik and Tun Daim, he said, referring to Malaysia’s former finance minister Abdul Daim bin Zainuddin whom he previously identified as the person who had gotten him interested in the mining business.
Soh’s involvement in LionGold took up a lot of time, thus requiring him to have butterfly or simultaneous meetings that saw him moving from room to room. He also ended up having meetings at the airport to save time whilst travelling.
Given these activities, DPP Teo suggested his role was “like a fully time job” and not merely an “advisor”.
“No, I don’t agree with that. It’s just one of the things I do,” Soh replied.
The other things he did included his “turnaround meetings” during which he looked at turning around distressed companies.
“This is where I spent the bulk of my time,” he noted, adding that he could easily meet over 200 people in a week.
These meetings often translated to as many as 20 to 30 projects in a week, Soh said.
These activities would make Soh good at networking, turning companies around and turning a crisis or some aberrational event into classic turnaround opportunities, DPP Teo suggested.
“Yes, I have been good at that. But there have been disasters as well,” Soh acknowledged.
Even so, DPP Teo pointed out that Soh’s activities paint him as a strategic person and possibly a “big picture person” as was what was said by several of his close associates who had taken the stand as prosecution witnesses.
“I would be uncomfortable with that kind of generalisation,” said Soh.
“I would see the big picture, but at times I would have to delve into details although that was not really my strength,” he elaborated.
Conversely, Quah was seen as detail-oriented and supposedly helped Soh with nitty gritty matters as well as logistics.
For instance, she would help arrange for meetings or for the takeaway of food, Soh noted.
The court heard that Soh and Quah had known each other for over two decades and were close even before 2013. Quah was often ferrying him for meetings and helping him with his gadgets, just like a Girl Friday – a name she went by, particularly among several trading representatives.
Their relationship turned intimate sometime around the first quarter of 2013. In this time, Soh was also intimate with Cheng Joe-Ee, a former wealth manager who runs her own firm, Alethia Asset Management.
“Unfortunately yes, Your Honour,” Soh responded sheepishly when pressed if he began to be intimate with both Quah and Cheng at the same time.
DPP Teo’s cross-examination of Soh also touched on instances where he appeared to be an authority or boss of sorts.
In one instance, Soh appears to be the person approving a press release.
However, Soh claimed he was just the “point man” when Tan Sri Nik was concerned with his role being just to convey information and get a yes or no response.
In another instance, Soh is seen saying “good to go, the risks are there but what the hell, let's do it” with regards to the execution of a deal.
“I would disagree with my phraseology – it’s not my decision,” quipped Soh, adding that he would have just been conveying Tan Sri Nik’s decision.
“It is not quite my phraseology, you said good to go, so I'm just using that,” DPP Teo retorted.
The trial resumes on May 28 with DPP Teo continuing his cross-examination of Soh.
