Ex-director of Jade Technologies Holdings charged with insider trading
By Claire Huang | Posted: 20 July 2012 1348 hrs
SINGAPORE: A former director of Jade Technologies Holdings has been charged with insider trading.
Anthony Soh Guan Cheow, 56, faces a total of 39 charges, including providing false information. Seven of them are for insider trading between February and March 2008.
Court documents stated that Soh knew that Asia Pacific Links Ltd did not have sufficient financial means to implement its voluntary conditional cash offer for all ordinary issued shares of Jade Technologies in full. Soh was said to have procured the sale of Jade Technologies' shares when he was in possession of the information.
If convicted, Soh can be fined up to S$250,000 and jailed up to seven years.
He faces 14 counts of failing to notify Jade Technologies of his purchase of its shares between August 2007 and April 2008. On each count, Soh can be fined a maximum of S$15,000 and jailed up to three years.
He also faces a charge of providing a false report to the Singapore Exchange Securities in January 2008 and another similar charge in April 2008 for deceiving the Singapore Securities Industry Council. For these, he could be fined up to S$50,000 and jailed for two years.
Soh is also accused of failing to inform the Singapore Exchange Securities of his purchase of Jade Technologies shares between August 2007 and April 2008 on 14 occasions. On each count, he faces a jail term of up to three years and a fine of S$15,000.
Soh also allegedly announced publicly in February 2008 that he intended to make a takeover offer for Jade Technologies, now known as China Titanium Ltd, when there wasn't reasonable grounds to believe he would go through with the offer.
If found guilty, he could be fined up to S$250,000 and jailed up to seven years.
Soh faces one other charge of creating a misleading appearance with respect to the price for Jade Technologies shares. For this, he could be jailed up to seven years and fined up to S$250,000.
-CNA/ac