Soh pleads not guilty to penny stock crash

SINGAPORE: Malaysian businessman Soh Chee Wen pleaded not guilty to 189 charges on the first day of his long-awaited trial over the penny stock crash about six years ago which cleansed S$8bil (about RM24bil) from the Singapore share market.

His partner, Quah Su-Ling, also pleaded not guilty to 178 charges before High Court Judge Hoo Sheau Peng.

Soh, 59, and Quah, 54, were charged with orchestrating a massive scam to manipulate the market over the shares of Blumont Group Ltd, Asiasons Capital Limited and LionGold Corp Ltd between August 2012 and October 2013.

Charges were also tendered against Goh Hin Calm, a key accomplice of Soh and Quah.

Goh, 59, however, had on March 20, 2019, pleaded guilty to two of the six charges of aiding and abetting Soh and Quah.

He was sentenced to jail terms of three years for each charge, which will run concurrently.

It was made to understand that Goh’s decision to plead guilty may turn him as a prosecution witness.

When the alleged offences took place, Quah was a director and the CEO of IPCO International Ltd while Goh was its senior finance and administration manager.

The first 10 charges against Soh and Quah fall under Section 197 of the Securities and Futures Act (SFA) and Section 109 of the Penal Code.

It is learned that this is the largest case of market manipulation in the history of Singapore. — Bernama.