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 issu...
Comments
Michelle Quah
17 October 2014
Ong Chow Hong, one of four former directors of Airocean Group who were charged and convicted over what was then deemed a misleading statement by the company, has had his five-year conviction overturned.
Justice of Appeal Chao Hick Tin, in his oral judgment on Thursday, set aside Mr Ong’s conviction on the grounds that more recent judgments involving other former Airocean directors have established that the statement was “not misleading in a material particular”.
Mr Ong, then a non-executive chairman and independent director of Airocean, had been convicted for allowing the issuance of an announcement on Nov 25, 2005. The announcement had to do with the then chief executive, Thomas Tay, and omitted to state that Mr Tay had been questioned by Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) officers on matters involving Airocean subsidiaries.
The announcement made it appear that the CPIB investigations concerned other companies in the industry rather than Airocean itself.
Mr Ong was charged with failing to use reasonable diligence in the discharge of his duties as a director. He said he had approved the announcement without reading it, because he had to attend a golf event and formal dinner held by Aljunied Town Council, and had relied on Airocean’s lawyers to deal with the announcement.
He pleaded guilty, was fined S$4,000 in August 2009 and banned from being a director for one year. After he appealed against the ban, it was extended to two years by the appeals court in May 2010.
Other former Airocean independent directors, Peter Madhavan and Ong Seow Yong, and the company’s former COO, Johnson Chong, were charged in July 2008 over the same announcement. They were all found guilty - with Mr Madhavan even being handed a jail term. Upon appeal, however, they were acquitted of all charges in July 2012.
Then-Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong had said in his appeal judgment: “There is insufficient reliable evidence to show beyond a reasonable doubt that the information was likely to materially affect the price or value of Airocean shares; and the DJ (Subordinate Courts District Judge Liew Thiam Leng) erred in holding that Airocean was reckless in not disclosing the information.”
In October 2013, Mr Tay had his convictions over similar charges overturned as well.
In considering Mr Ong’s petition to have his conviction set aside, Justice Chao said: “Given the fact that the petitioner’s conviction arises out of the same factual matrix as (the case involving the other directors), it would be highly anomalous if the petitioner remained convicted whereas the appellants in that case were acquitted of the charges against them in relation to the making of the announcement. “If in fact the announcement and the information therein were considered not to be misleading in a material particular, I cannot imagine that anyone would be charged in relation thereto, far less the petitioner,” he added.
Justice Chao noted that Mr Ong had already paid the fine of S$4,000 and served out the disqualification order - to act as a director - of 24 months. He, therefore, ordered the S$4,000 fine to refunded to Mr Ong.