Prosecution applies for charges against ex-Airocean chief to be quashed
Published on Oct 04, 2013
Six years after he was fined $240,000 for non-disclosure and false statement offences, former Airocean chief executive Thomas Tay (above), seen in this 2006 file photo, was on Friday, Oct 4, 2013, cleared of the charges - on the prosecution's initiative. -- ST FILE PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
By Selina Lum
Six years after he was fined $240,000 for non-disclosure and false statement offences, former Airocean chief executive Thomas Tay was on Friday cleared of the charges - on the prosecution's initiative.
This came in the wake of various rulings last year by then-chief justice Chan Sek Keong when he acquitted three other former Airocean directors who appealed against their convictions.
Mr Tay who had pleaded guilty in 2007 to the charges under the Securities and Futures Act, did not take steps to set aside his own conviction. But the prosecution on Friday applied to the High Court for his conviction to be quashed "in the interest of justice".
The prosecution said that the circumstances of Mr Tay's case are based on the same set of facts as those of the other ex-directors. For Mr Tay to remain convicted while the other three were acquitted would result in "serious injustice". The court set aside Mr Tay's conviction and ordered the fine be refunded to him.
