Penny stock crash mastermind Soh Chee Wen jailed 36 years
John Soh Chee Wen and Quah Su-Ling were found guilty of running a scheme between August 2012 and October 2013 that wiped out S$8 billion of the Singapore stock exchange’s market capitalisation.
PETALING JAYA: Malaysian businessman John Soh Chee Wen has been sentenced to 36 years in jail in Singapore for masterminding the republic’s biggest stock market manipulation.
According to a report in The Straits Times, his co-conspirator, Quah Su-Ling, was handed a 20-year sentence.
They were found to have manipulated the share prices of Blumont Group, Asiasons Capital and Lion-Gold Corp – collectively known as BAL – between August 2012 and October 2013, and in the process, wiped out nearly S$8 billion (RM27 billion) of the market’s capitalisation.
Both are appealing against their sentences.
Soh was convicted on several charges, including for market manipulation, false trading, deception, cheating and tampering.
Today’s sentencing brought the case to a close after nearly four years that spanned 349 successful charges in some 200 days of trial.
Prosecutors had sought a jail sentence of 40 years for Soh, who was convicted on 180 charges, and 19-and-a-half years for Quah, who was convicted on 169 charges.
Soh, 63, has been remanded since 2016, while Quah, 58, the former chief executive of Ipco (now renamed Renaissance United), is out on bail of S$4 million (RM13 million).
A previous report in The Straits Times quoted the prosecution as saying Soh’s scheme involved more than 50 individuals, including CEOs and high net worth individuals, who commanded more than half a billion dollars in funding that had been used to manipulate the market.
PETALING JAYA: Malaysian businessman John Soh Chee Wen has been sentenced to 36 years in jail in Singapore for masterminding the republic’s biggest stock market manipulation.
According to a report in The Straits Times, his co-conspirator, Quah Su-Ling, was handed a 20-year sentence.
They were found to have manipulated the share prices of Blumont Group, Asiasons Capital and Lion-Gold Corp – collectively known as BAL – between August 2012 and October 2013, and in the process, wiped out nearly S$8 billion (RM27 billion) of the market’s capitalisation.
Both are appealing against their sentences.
Soh was convicted on several charges, including for market manipulation, false trading, deception, cheating and tampering.
Today’s sentencing brought the case to a close after nearly four years that spanned 349 successful charges in some 200 days of trial.
Prosecutors had sought a jail sentence of 40 years for Soh, who was convicted on 180 charges, and 19-and-a-half years for Quah, who was convicted on 169 charges.
Soh, 63, has been remanded since 2016, while Quah, 58, the former chief executive of Ipco (now renamed Renaissance United), is out on bail of S$4 million (RM13 million).
A previous report in The Straits Times quoted the prosecution as saying Soh’s scheme involved more than 50 individuals, including CEOs and high net worth individuals, who commanded more than half a billion dollars in funding that had been used to manipulate the market.
***
kt comments:
I came across John Soh's name more than 15 years ago when I started blogging. Yes indeed, it was in the nascent world of Malaysian bloggers that the rumour of John Soh as Datuk 'Roast Lamb' was first aired.
Then, prominent (or assertive) bloggers got together an an informal dinner function to discuss about the protocols, ethics and even rules of blogging in Malaysia, and as always, there was a futile 'attempt' to have bloggers in our nation "registered" - hey matey, who would have dared to blog with the Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads, wakakaka.
As a point of interest, the Malaysian blogging 'nobility' then were Jeff Ooi, Rocky Bru, Aisehman, Susan Loone, the (late) Zorro Unmasked, Desiderata (YL Chong) and many others. I don't know how many of them attended that Bar-B-Que informal, and I'm not sure whether RPK had then became a blogger too.
Anyway, the attempt at 'regulating' bloggers fell by the wayside but one name stood out, that of Datuk John Soh (rumoured) as the sponsor of a barbeque, with a roast lamb as its pièce de résistance. Henceforth he became known as Datuk 'Roast Lamb', wakakaka, for his generosity.
He once again came into the limelight vis-a-vis 916, as the rumoured backer of Anwar somewhat daring coup d'etat in 2008, wakakaka. It was thence the rumoured 30 BN defectors were shipped abroad on a "holiday" to Taiwan with more than a couple of PKR 'notables' in pursuit, wakakaka again.
Few of the original blogger group are still blogging.
ReplyDeleteSome have changed their stripes.
Zorro has passed away.
Nik Nazmi is now a Minister,
Desi stopped blogging after 2018
Nik was not a big-timer, and recently I 'met' up with Desi - he's into poetry nowadays and I've joined his group though at this stage I haven't contributed any poem, either composed or selected from famous names [BTW, Desi was assisting Tian Chua in GE15, wakakaka]
DeleteIt is interesting to learn about the attempt to regulate bloggers.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think it is better to let bloggers blog unfettered. And each blogger would have to answer for infringing any legal rules or being sued.
This freedom allows for genuine sharing of views and contestation of ideas.