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SINGAPORE (July 9): John Soh, who is at the centre of a trial for allegedly manipulating three penny stocks in 2013 that subsequently led to their crash, made a couple of attempts to stage a “comeback” from losses incurred in the wake of their spectacular collapse. According to former broker Gabriel Gan Tze Wee, who helped to carry out some of Soh’s trade orders, the latter tried to convince people around him that he had a “comeback story” and that they could all make a “solid” comeback. Gan, who is taking the stand as the latest prosecution witness, told the court that the term “comeback” was “over-abused” by Soh three to four years after the crash. The court also heard that a couple of “comeback” attempts were also made with two other listed companies, Sino Construction (since then renamed MMP Resources) and ISR Capital (now called Reenova Investment Holding) as well as a privately-held company called Greatronics. However, before the schemes could gain traction and make enough

SINGAPORE (July 9): Sreenivasan attempted to get Gan to agree that his client did not have that much control over the manipulation of BAL shares as painted out to be. According to earlier testimonies given by prosecution witnesses, including Gan, Soh in September 2013 before the crash, had urged attendees at a presentation held at LionGold’s office to buy the three stocks. Those present at the event included Quah, Gwee, Tai and Wong Xue Yu. “If John was controlling the accounts under these people, do you agree there was no reason for him to promote the company to them? He just has to give them instructions to go and buy, right?” asked Sreenivasan. Gan disagreed, saying Soh meant to encourage them to buy. “They could take up the encouragement or they could not take up the encouragement?” asked Sreenivasan. “Of course, definitely,” replied Gan. “These people who were there being encouraged to buy were people who could make decisions on their own, right?” asked Sreenivasan. “Yes,” s

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