<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=452><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Published September 4, 2009
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>I'm a scapegoat, says Pheim ex-staffer
She tells court she was made to take responsibility for UET trades
By CHEW XIANG
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(SINGAPORE) A former employee of the billion-dollar Malaysian fund Pheim Asset Management said she had been made a scapegoat for alleged market rigging trades, the High Court heard yesterday.
The trades in Singapore-listed United Envirotech shares over the last three days of December 2004 are at the centre of a civil lawsuit filed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) against Pheim Malaysia and Tan Chong Koay, its chief executive.
Tan Keng Lin, formerly a fund manager at Pheim's Malaysia office, had told the Securities Commission of Malaysia (SCM) in 2006 that she was the one who had executed the UET trades.
But on Wednesday she contradicted her earlier testimony and said she had not been acting independently. She said she had been made to take responsibility for the trades by Dr Tan.
Defence lawyers Senior Counsel Michael Hwang and Rodyk & Davidson partner Foo Maw Shen were moving to impeach her credibility as a witness but yesterday morning applied instead to cross examine her.
Ms Tan had been called as a defence witness but Mr Hwang argued her evidence was 'a surprise' to him and that he needed to cross examine her to find out the truth. That would allow him to use techniques such as leading questions which normally would not be allowed.
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Senior Counsel Cavinder Bull of Drew & Napier, representing MAS, argued that cross examination was not necessary because Ms Tan had not been so hostile or difficult with the court but Justice Lai Siu Chiu granted the application after the lawyers had debated for an hour.
Under cross examination by Mr Huang, Ms Tan said Dr Tan, herself, and two other Pheim staff had dinner at a Japanese restaurant two days before she testified to SCM. At the dinner, they discussed how to answer the questions posed by the authorities and the decision was made to name Ms Tan as the one who had done the trades.
Ms Tan said she felt uncomfortable as she knew that she was lying to the SCM but said she did not know the seriousness of the consequences of doing so as she had no access to legal or professional opinion.
It was only later when MAS contacted her to testify could she take the opportunity to set the record straight, she said, adding later that she felt she had been made a scapegoat for the transactions.
Dr Tan is expected to take the witness stand when the hearing continues today before Justice Lai.
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>I'm a scapegoat, says Pheim ex-staffer
She tells court she was made to take responsibility for UET trades
By CHEW XIANG
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</TD><TD>Feedback</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>(SINGAPORE) A former employee of the billion-dollar Malaysian fund Pheim Asset Management said she had been made a scapegoat for alleged market rigging trades, the High Court heard yesterday.
The trades in Singapore-listed United Envirotech shares over the last three days of December 2004 are at the centre of a civil lawsuit filed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) against Pheim Malaysia and Tan Chong Koay, its chief executive.
Tan Keng Lin, formerly a fund manager at Pheim's Malaysia office, had told the Securities Commission of Malaysia (SCM) in 2006 that she was the one who had executed the UET trades.
But on Wednesday she contradicted her earlier testimony and said she had not been acting independently. She said she had been made to take responsibility for the trades by Dr Tan.
Defence lawyers Senior Counsel Michael Hwang and Rodyk & Davidson partner Foo Maw Shen were moving to impeach her credibility as a witness but yesterday morning applied instead to cross examine her.
Ms Tan had been called as a defence witness but Mr Hwang argued her evidence was 'a surprise' to him and that he needed to cross examine her to find out the truth. That would allow him to use techniques such as leading questions which normally would not be allowed.
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Under cross examination by Mr Huang, Ms Tan said Dr Tan, herself, and two other Pheim staff had dinner at a Japanese restaurant two days before she testified to SCM. At the dinner, they discussed how to answer the questions posed by the authorities and the decision was made to name Ms Tan as the one who had done the trades.
Ms Tan said she felt uncomfortable as she knew that she was lying to the SCM but said she did not know the seriousness of the consequences of doing so as she had no access to legal or professional opinion.
It was only later when MAS contacted her to testify could she take the opportunity to set the record straight, she said, adding later that she felt she had been made a scapegoat for the transactions.
Dr Tan is expected to take the witness stand when the hearing continues today before Justice Lai.
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