Lau Goh's son sued over US$156 million loss

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Ex-New Silkroutes Group CEO Goh Jin Hian, three others charged with market manipulation​

Goh Jin Hian was chief executive of New Silkroutes Group from 2015 to 2020. PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS

Grace Leong
Senior Business Correspondent

Sep 20, 2023

SINGAPORE - The former chief executive of Singapore-listed New Silkroutes Group Goh Jin Hian and three other men were slapped with a total of 132 charges related to false trading offences in the State Courts on Wednesday.
The other three men charged are the healthcare and energy firm’s former chief corporate officer Kelvyn Oo Cheong Kwan and former finance director William Teo Thiam Chuan, as well as Huang Yiwen, the sole director of GTC Group, a commercial market maker that New Silkroutes had engaged.
Market makers help ensure there is enough liquidity in the markets.
Goh, 54, the son of former prime minister Goh Chok Tong, was chief executive of New Silkroutes from 2015 to 2020. In 2020, he also stepped down as non-independent and non-executive chairman of the group.
In a statement on Wednesday, the police said the four men were each charged under the Securities and Futures Act with 31 counts of engaging in a conspiracy to create a misleading appearance with respect to the share price of New Silkroutes.
They allegedly placed orders and executed trades in the company’s shares with the purpose of pushing up its share price on 31 trading days between Feb 26 and Aug 27 in 2018.
The alleged orders and trades include share buybacks carried out through the company’s corporate trading account, the police said.

Goh faced a further eight counts of violating securities regulations. He allegedly placed orders and executed trades in the company’s securities through his DBS Private Bank personal trading account with the purpose of pushing up New Silkroutes’ share price on eight trading days between Aug 31 and Dec 4 in 2018.
Shares of New Silkroutes have been suspended since Nov 15, 2021.
All four men are out on bail. If convicted of an offence under Section 197 of the Securities and Futures Act, they face a jail term of up to seven years or a maximum fine of $250,000, or both.

New Silkroutes had said in October 2020 that Goh resigned from his post of non-independent and non-executive chairman to “devote more time to his personal affairs”.
Teo, meanwhile, stepped down that same month to “focus on personal matters and to pursue other interests”. Oo left his position in August 2020.

Their resignations came after the company disclosed that Goh and Teo were helping the police’s Commercial Affairs Department with investigations.
The charges followed a joint investigation between the Commercial Affairs Department and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Separately, a High Court trial began in April between the liquidators of insolvent marine fuel supplier Inter-Pacific Petroleum (IPP) and Goh, its former director, over US$156 million (S$207 million) in losses resulting from his alleged breach of director’s duties.
Lawyers for IPP’s liquidators, who are seeking to recover that sum, accused Goh of “sleepwalking through his time as a director”, and failing to discover and stop drawdowns in trade financing between June and July 2019 to fund alleged “non-existent or sham transactions”.
But Goh said the suit was a “blatant attempt to scapegoat him”, as he was “not involved in any sham transactions”.
The civil trial ended on May 11 and parties are awaiting judgment.

 

[ChinaCommunistSG]

Goh was offered bail of $150,000, while bail for Teo, 54, was set at $100,000. Oo, 52, and Huang, 40, were each offered bail at $70,000.

 

[Pinkieslut]

,





As at 2019,he was on record as having held directorships in 68 companies.

Nothing wrong with making more $$$$$$!

 

[congo9]

Lau Goh son must be very powerful.

 

[Sustanon]

scapegoat, not involved, non-existent, I did not do..... what else???? When you take salary every month you involve or not??? laugh die me....

 

[syed putra]

It claims that he done so, he would have "discovered from the last quarter of 2017 that there were significant outstanding accounting receivables purportedly due and owing from its customers, which were derived from transactions which were in fact shams and non-existent

Why banks take civil suit. This is cheating and its a crime. As usual, malay banks got cheated by chinaman.

 

[rusty]

How many times did GCT called LHL to help?

 

[ChinaCommunistSG]

What would happen if Goh Jin Hian is inside the jail and his father Goh Chok Tong dies ? Will Singapore prison officer allow him to get out from the jail to attend Goh Chok Tong funeral

 

[laksaboy]

What would happen if Goh Jin Hian is inside the jail and his father Goh Chok Tong dies ? Will Singapore prison officer allow him to get out from the jail to attend Goh Chok Tong funeral

Can. Peanut Lady can also find a new boytoy.

 

[batman1]

If his son is not sued,we worry. Lol....

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Former IPP director Goh Jin Hian liable for US$146M losses suffered by company: High Court​

Goh Jin Hian served as a director of Inter-Pacific Petroleum from June 28, 2011 to Aug 20, 2019. PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS FILE

Grace Leong
Senior Business Correspondent

Feb 6, 2024

SINGAPORE - The High Court has found Goh Jin Hian, a former director of insolvent marine fuel supplier Inter-Pacific Petroleum (IPP), liable for breach of director’s duties, statutory duties and losses suffered by the firm amounting to US$146 million (S$196m) plus interest.
The liquidators of IPP had sued Goh to recover US$156 million in losses, accusing him of “sleepwalking through his time as a director” and failing to discover and stop drawdowns in trade financing between June 2019 and July 2019 to fund alleged non-existent or sham transactions.
The 55-year-old served as a director of IPP from June 28, 2011 to Aug 20, 2019.
According to the liquidators, the trade financing came from IPP’s two largest creditors - Malayan Banking (Maybank) and the Singapore branch of Societe Generale (SocGen).
It consisted of US$146 million drawn down for cargo trading operations, and US$10.5 million drawn from SocGen’s facility for IPP’s bunkering operations allegedly when IPP was balance-sheet insolvent.
High Court Justice Aedit Abdullah, in brief remarks issued on January 24, detailed the responsibilities of a company director.

He noted that while a director is not an internal auditor, checking every singular detail, the obligation is to monitor the affairs of the corporation.

“This entails, among others, at least broad level supervision of the activities of the officers of the corporation, for the protection of the company, shareholders and creditors,” the judge said.
He found that Goh, the son of former prime minister Goh Chok Tong, had “breached the fiduciary duty owed to the company to take into account the interests of the creditors”.
“It is not necessary for the company to be actually insolvent; the duty arises when the company is in parlous state.

“I do find that the company was in difficulties at the least by June 2019, as indicated by it being balance-sheet insolvent then, and that it was in financial difficulties,” he said.
But the judge said the claim for the loss of $10.5 million “has not been made out” as IPP has “not sufficiently shown how this claim arose out of the breach in question”.
In response to The Straits Times’ questions, Goh said: “I am considering an appeal against the judgment and will discuss this with my lawyers.”
According to Goh’s opening statement, IPP’s cargo trades and its books and records were directly managed out of its Hong Kong office by Ms Zoe Cheung, a former director and 85 per cent shareholder, and former chief financial officer Wallace To.
“If Dr Goh (was suspicious about) IPP’s finances, and was inclined to investigate, he would require Zoe and Wallace’s cooperation,” it said.

The judge found that the defendant played an active role in the management of the company, adding that the evidence did not show he reduced his role to a purely non-executive one after July 2015.
“The defendant in his specific circumstances owed the duty to be fully apprised of the affairs of the company, especially those relating to its profitability or otherwise.
“That thus entailed a need for him to be aware of and to monitor all the activities, including the cargo trading business.”
Justice Abdullah said Goh showed a lack of knowledge of IPP’s cargo trading business, which was a significant portion of the company’s activity.
“What was adduced by the plaintiff did sufficiently make out ignorance,” the judge said.
During the High Court trial in April 2023, Senior Counsel Lok Vi Ming, who represents Deloitte & Touche, IPP’s judicial managers turned liquidators, questioned why Goh failed to inquire and investigate a large amount of receivables – US$132 million – allegedly owed to IPP by Mercuria Energy Trading.
Had he done so, he would have learnt that the invoices IPP issued to Mercuria from September 2017 to February/March 2018 were for bogus transactions, and he would have prevented IPP from drawing down on the trade financing with SocGen and Maybank in June 2019 and July 2019.
The liquidators also alleged that Goh missed another opportunity to investigate IPP’s affairs in June 2019, when its bunker operator craft licence was suspended after the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore detected operational irregularities during an inspection.
They said that while Goh told the authority that IPP was “under tremendous financial strain”, he did so “without bothering to check IPP’s financial position”.
This is because if he had done so, he would have “discovered that there were receivables amounting to about US$964.9 million as of June 2019”.
And if he had checked on the validity and accuracy of these receivables, “the sham transactions would have been exposed”, the liquidators argued.
The judge found that due to Goh’s failure to act on several red flags that had emerged around Feb 7, 2018, “the full extent of the losses claimed by IPP should be allowed”.
“Loss was caused to the plaintiff through the transactions and drawdowns which should not have been carried out and would not have been had the defendant performed his duties,” the judge ruled.
On Goh’s defence relating to the adequacy of information provided within IPP, Justice Abdullah found the information insufficient to answer the queries “that should have been pursued by the defendant as a director, given both the magnitude and the circumstances of these financial issues”.
“An honest and reasonably diligent director would have persisted and probed further,” he noted.
“I do find that on the balance of probabilities, the fraud would have discovered had he inquired,” Justice Abdullah said.
“In particular, once (Goh) appreciated the large amount supposedly owed to (IPP) by Mercuria, he would have uncovered things that would have triggered at least if not an immediate call to the authorities, at least one soon after, staunching any loss to the company.
“This was, as noted by the plaintiff, something that he discovered fairly promptly in reality when he eventually realised that there was cargo trading being undertaken,” the judge noted.
Goh held 36 concurrent directorships between 2017 and August 2019.
In 2020, he stepped down as non-independent, non-executive chairman of healthcare and energy firm New Silkroutes Group and resigned as independent director of cord-blood banking firm Cordlife Group.
In September 2023, Goh and three other men were handed a total of 132 charges related to false trading offences in the State Courts.
Goh himself faced 39 charges under the Securities and Futures Act over allegations including manipulating the share price of New Silkroutes over various periods in 2018.

 

[steffychun]

His Loh Hei will be asking for no jail or fine.

 

[Peter Ahmad Muniandy Wong]

I must say he looks like a carbon copy of his father.

Yes, why wooden he ?

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Ex-IPP director Goh Jin Hian ignorant of cargo trading business that was ‘vehicle of fraud’: Court​

Goh Jin Hian outside the State Courts on Sept 20, 2023. PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS FILE

Grace Leong
Senior Correspondent

Jul 12, 2024

SINGAPORE - The High Court has found that Goh Jin Hian, a former director of insolvent marine fuel supplier Inter-Pacific Petroleum (IPP), is not entitled to relief from liability to pay US$146 million (S$196 million) plus interest in compensation for losses suffered by the firm.
This is due to “the egregiousness of his breaches of duty, chief among which was his ignorance as to IPP’s cargo trading business” – a “vehicle of fraud” that had “disastrous consequences” for the company – Justice Aedit Abdullah ruled in his 170-page grounds of decision issued on July 11.
Goh, the son of former prime minister Goh Chok Tong, served as a director of IPP from June 28, 2011, to August 2019.
His breach of duty “entailed an extent of carelessness or imprudence that struck at the very heart of his duty of skill, care and diligence”, said the judge.
In declining to grant Goh relief from liability, Justice Abdullah said: “The mere fact that Dr Goh had not been a perpetrator of the fraud did not mean that he was not responsible for its disastrous consequences on IPP.
“It was through his combination of misfeasance and nonfeasance, in failing to even be aware of IPP’s cargo trading business, that the fraudsters were able to use IPP’s cargo trading business as a vehicle of fraud in the first place.”
He ordered Goh to pay costs of $332,545 plus $94,301 in disbursements.

The judge’s grounds of decision came after Goh appealed the ruling in February that found him liable for breach of director’s duties and statutory duties and losses suffered by IPP.
Deloitte & Touche, IPP’s judicial managers turned liquidators, had sued Goh to recover US$156 million in losses, accusing him of “sleepwalking through his time as a director”, and failing to discover and stop drawdowns in trade financing between June 2019 and July 2019 to fund alleged non-existent or sham transactions.
According to the liquidators, the trade financing came from IPP’s two largest creditors – Malayan Banking (Maybank) and the Singapore branch of Societe Generale (SocGen).

It consisted of US$146 million drawn down for cargo trading operations, and US$10.5 million drawn from SocGen’s facility for IPP’s bunkering operations allegedly when IPP was balance-sheet insolvent.
But the judge said the US$10.5 million claim “has not been made out” as IPP has “not sufficiently shown how this claim arose out of the breach in question”.
The judge found that Goh had failed to take “reasonable steps”, such as making necessary inquiries when various red flags relating to the firm’s financial position arose.
The liquidators said he missed an opportunity to investigate IPP’s affairs in June 2019 when its bunker operator craft licence was suspended, after the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore detected operational irregularities during an inspection.
“Any reasonable director in Dr Goh’s position who had been informed that his company was facing a ‘going concern issue’ would have inquired on how IPP’s cargo trading business was doing amidst the suspension,” said Justice Abdullah.
That he did not do so meant Goh had simply not known of the firm’s cargo trading business, said the judge.

The liquidators, represented by Senior Counsel Lok Vi Ming and associate director Justin Chan, said Goh failed to inquire about and investigate a large amount of receivables – US$132 million – allegedly owed to IPP by Mercuria Energy Trading.
Had Goh done so, he would have learnt that the invoices IPP issued to Mercuria from September 2017 to February or March 2018 were for bogus transactions, and he would have prevented IPP from drawing down on the trade financing with SocGen and Maybank in June 2019 and July 2019.
“However, ‘even when shown that there was a significant amount due from a single trade debtor, Dr Goh did not even so much as check how much of these receivables were overdue’,” Justice Abdullah noted.
In addition, the judge accepted IPP’s submission that the audit confirmation request – which showed US$132 million in receivables was due from Mercuria to IPP as at Dec 31, 2017 – was a red flag that should have triggered Goh to investigate IPP’s receivables position.
“If Dr Goh signed the audit confirmation request without properly satisfying himself as to its contents, he did so at his own peril and he had to now pay the price for it,” the judge said.
The judge also rejected Goh’s argument that IPP’s business and financing mechanism was structured in such a manner that it was unnecessary for him to inquire into IPP’s financials.
“A director’s duty to make inquiries... is intended to ensure that the director is sufficiently on top of the company’s affairs to prevent the company from entering into a crisis in the first place,” Justice Abdullah said.
Goh disputed IPP’s claim that he had been an executive director of IPP at the time when the June-July 2019 drawdowns were made. He alleged he had intentionally transitioned to the role of a non-executive director from July 2015, until his resignation from IPP’s board in August 2019.
But the judge found that Goh continued to be actively involved in IPP’s management even after his supposed intention to transition out of executive functions in July 2015.
In September 2023, Goh and three other men were handed a total of 132 charges related to false trading offences in the State Courts. Goh himself faced 39 charges under the Securities and Futures Act over allegations, including manipulating the share price of healthcare and energy firm New Silkroutes over various periods in 2018.

 

[batman1]

His is secret case not open to public.555

 

[steffychun]

Dad to the rescue?

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

New Silkroutes ex-director jailed over market-rigging scheme allegedly masterminded by Goh Jin Hian​

According to sentencing documents, William Teo Thiam Chuan (left) played a “critical” role in the market-rigging scheme, which the prosecution alleged was masterminded by Goh Jin Hian. PHOTOS: KELVIN CHNG, BT FILE

Grace Leong
Senior Correspondent

Sep 19, 2024

SINGAPORE – A former finance director of Singapore-listed New Silkroutes Group was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison on Sept 16 after pleading guilty to manipulating its share prices to allow its shares to be used as consideration for corporate deals.
According to sentencing documents, William Teo Thiam Chuan, 55, played a “critical” role in the market-rigging scheme, which the prosecution alleged was masterminded by Goh Jin Hian, former chief executive of the investment holding firm.
On Sept 16, Teo pleaded guilty to six charges under the Securities and Futures Act for abetment by conspiracy over false trading and market-rigging transactions. Another 25 charges were taken into consideration.
Goh, 55, the son of former prime minister Goh Chok Tong, Teo, Kelvyn Oo Cheong Kwan, the group’s former chief corporate officer, and Huang Yiwen, the sole director of GTC Group, a commercial market maker that New Silkroutes had engaged, were handed in September 2023 a total of 132 charges related to false trading offences. The pre-trial conference for Goh, Huang and Oo is scheduled for Sept 26.
According to the prosecution, the four men carried out a “sophisticated, well-coordinated and effective” scheme between Feb 26, 2018, and Aug 27, 2018, to artificially push up the share price of New Silkroutes, “effectively (allowing the company) to use its shares as currency for corporate deals and acquisitions”.
The scheme was devised as “a quick and convenient way” to facilitate the company’s expansion by acquiring other companies and to raise capital through the issuance of new shares, the prosecution added.
New Silkroutes was initially in the businesses of oil trading, and electronic and IT product distribution. In December 2016, it decided to move into healthcare and acquired several clinics and medical supply firms the following year. These acquisitions were paid for through the issuance of company shares.

But its efforts to acquire companies and raise capital through private placements were hindered by its weakening share price in 2017.
From January 2017 to May 2017, its shares traded between 70 cents and 90 cents, before dropping to between 40 cents and 50 cents in June 2017. By November 2017, they had hit a low of 28.5 cents.
On Nov 29, 2017, New Silkroutes applied to halt the trading of its shares. Trading was suspended on Dec 4, 2017, and the suspension was lifted only after the market closed on Feb 25, 2018.

While its stock trading was suspended, the firm agreed to several corporate transactions involving the potential issuance of new company shares as consideration.
On Feb 21, 2018, it announced a proposed placement of 11.4 million new shares at a price of 44 cents per share to an external investor, Dr Andrew Chua Soon Kian, to raise $5 million. This placement was completed in March 2018.
That same month, New Silkroutes announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a Mr Shen Yuyun to acquire two medical supply companies in Shanghai. The company planned to issue new shares at 50 cents a piece to complete the acquisition for $65 million.
It also announced an MOU with Haitong International Securities, where Haitong would subscribe to a convertible bond of $5 million issued by New Silkroutes, with a maturity date of two years from the date of issue. The convertible bond would pay interest of 5 per cent per annum.

One reason for propping up the stock price was to bolster investor confidence to complete the corporate transactions and to allow for future share placements based on an attractive share price, the prosecution said.
“There were concerns that Haitong might not exercise its option if the share price continued on its downward trend, or that Shen Yuyun might ask for a greater premium if the share price fell below a certain level,” the prosecution added.
According to court papers, Goh asked Teo on Feb 4, 2018, to find a market maker to support the share price, and GTC was hired between Feb 21, 2018, and Feb 26, 2018, to artificially push up the price from 28.5 cents to a target price of 50 cents. The use of GTC also created an additional layer – by adding a separate market player – which would make it harder to detect the scheme, the prosecution said.
Legitimate market making does not include price manipulation to push up the share price and set the closing price.
To push up the share price, the four men used different trading accounts to buy its shares to mark the close, or to push up and set the day’s closing price. They also bought at price levels several bids higher than the last traded price, the prosecution said.
Teo abused his position by using the company’s share buyback accounts, which he had been authorised to control, to place orders and execute trades to push up its share price.
“While not the mastermind (which was Goh), Teo played an important role in the scheme,” the prosecution said, pointing out that Teo was the main liaison between New Silkroutes and Huang.
“It was Teo who coordinated with Huang, reminding him of the price targets GTC had to hit, and giving instructions on the purchase of New Silkroutes securities.”
The scale of the market rigging was significant, with “great distortion” caused to the market for New Silkroutes’ securities. On the 31 days, which form the subject matter of Teo’s proceeded charges, the alleged trades and orders executed by Teo, Huang and Goh accounted for 28.78 per cent of the total market volume, taking buy trades only.

 

[steffychun]

A Tall Order.

 

[oliverlee]

When is this bastard going in to squat?