TWO former senior employees of UOB Kay Hian Private Limited (UOBKH) were charged on Wednesday for allegedly lying to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in relation to reports on a then Catalist aspirant. Lan Kang Ming, 38, and Wee Toon Lee, 34, each face three charges of providing MAS with false information in October 2018 in relation to due diligence reports on an unidentified company applying to list on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange. MAS said in a media statement on Wednesday that it was performing an onsite inspection of UOBKH between June and August 2018, to assess the latter's controls, policies and procedures in relation to its role as an issue manager for Initial Public Offering (IPOs). During the examination, Lan and Wee were said to have provided different versions of a due diligence report relating to background checks on a company applying to be listed on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange. UOBKH had acted as the issue manager
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Grace Leong
30 April 2014
Blumont Group and LionGold Corp were asked yesterday to provide more documents and accounting records to the authorities investigating the penny stock crash that wiped out billions of dollars in market value last October.
The request for further data comes after the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) seized computers, data storage devices and financial records from eight firms and their subsidiaries on April 2 as part of a sweeping probe into trading irregularities in Blumont, Asiasons Capital and LionGold Corp.
LionGold was asked yesterday to provide accounting records and minutes of meetings and resolutions from April 1, 2010, to March 31. It also sought directors’ e-mail and those of the adviser to the chairman, and e-mail of certain key management personnel.
Documents relating to LionGold’s proposed acquisition of Minera IRL were also requested. Both parties agreed on Oct 10 last year to abort negotiations due to volatility in LionGold’s share price.
Blumont, G1 Investments and its wholly-owned unit, Waddells International, were also asked to provide accounting records and other data from Jan 1, 2011, to March 31. The CAD asked for all documents relating to announcements made by Blumont regarding several proposed acquisitions.
In particular, the CAD wants data on Blumont’s proposed takeover of Australian-listed Cokal, the proposed acquisitions of Hudson Minerals Holdings and Powerlite Ventures, and a proposed investment in Resource Generation.
The CAD also sought data on a results warning lodged by Blumont on the Singapore Exchange on July 19 last year. Blumont had said that it was likely to report a loss for the second quarter. It attributed the projected loss to “unrealised losses arising from fair value re-adjustments of the group’s investment in transferable securities as well as the provision to be made for impairment for investments and assets affected by the recent volatility and downturn in the financial market and global economy”.
Earlier this month, Blumont executive chairman Neo Kim Hock and executive director James Hong Gee Ho were among 13 executives asked to provide all of their corporate data from Jan 1, 2011, to April 3. Asiasons has maintained that none of its units or directors has been asked to assist in the probe.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore and CAD are investigating alleged false trading and market rigging after shares of the three penny stocks skyrocketed between 40 and 160 per cent last August and September before plunging between 91 and 96 per cent over a few days in October, erasing more than $8 billion in market value.
Less than 12 hours after announcing an agreement to take over Cokal, Blumont called off the $146 million deal on Oct 4.
In January, Blumont also shelved its acquisition of iron ore miner Hudson Mineral Holdings.