Goh Jin Hian, the son of former prime minister Goh Chok Tong, was chief executive of New Silkroutes Group from 2015 to 2020. - ST/ANN
SINGAPORE – The criminal trial of the former chief executive of Singapore-listed New Silkroutes Group (NSG), Goh Jin Hian, and the company’s former chief corporate officer Kelvyn Oo Cheong Kwan began on Feb 4, with the prosecution citing evidence including WhatsApp chats showing their discussions on how to push up the company’s share price in order to fund its acquisitions and raise capital.
In September 2023, Goh, the son of former prime minister Goh Chok Tong; Oo, a corporate lawyer by training; and two other men – former finance director William Teo Thiam Chuan and GTC Group sole director Huang Yiwen – were handed a total of 132 charges related to false trading offences.
GTC Group is a commercial market maker that New Silkroutes had engaged to help ensure there was enough liquidity in the markets.
The prosecution’s first witness, Jacqueline Wei, a team leader with the securities fraud division of the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD), testified on Feb 4 that investigations into NSG began after the CAD found information that Huang “was engaging in false trading with NSG’s management executives” while investigating a separate matter involving Huang.
Wei told the court that the investigations into Huang had been triggered by a “referral” from the Singapore Exchange, and WhatsApp chat messages between Huang and Teo were subsequently discovered by the CAD.
In June 2020, the CAD launched an investigation into Teo, raided his residence, recorded his statements, reviewed his mobile phone and discovered his chat messages with Goh and Oo, which “suggested their knowledge of false trading” with Huang, she said.
Four months later, the CAD began investigating Goh and Oo for false trading of NSG shares, she added.
In 2023, the four men were each charged with 31 counts of engaging in a conspiracy to create a misleading appearance regarding the share price of New Silkroutes.
They were accused of carrying 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 alleged orders and trades included share buybacks carried out through the company’s corporate trading account.
Goh, 57, was CEO of New Silkroutes from 2015 to 2020. In 2020, Goh, a medical doctor by training who has a Master of Business Administration, stepped down as non-independent and non-executive chairman of the group.
Goh faces 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 intent of pushing up New Silkroutes’ share price on eight trading days between Aug 31, 2018, and Dec 4, 2018.
On Sept 16, 2024, Teo was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison after pleading guilty to manipulating New Silkroutes’ share prices to allow its shares to be used as consideration for corporate deals. Another 25 charges were taken into consideration.
On Aug 15, 2025, Huang was sentenced to jail for two years, three months and two weeks, after he pleaded guilty to 24 charges under the Securities and Futures Act, with another 88 charges taken into consideration for sentencing.
New Silkroutes initially distributed electronic and IT products, and later moved into the oil trading business. In December 2016, it decided to move into healthcare and acquired several clinics and medical supply firms the following year.
But its efforts were hindered by its weakening share price in 2017.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Suhas Malhotra, in an opening statement on Feb 4, alleged that “Goh and Oo’s offences were committed against a backdrop of NSG using its shares as currency – either by issuing shares as consideration for acquisitions or by issuing fresh shares to raise capital.
“This is relevant because NSG’s strategy was premised on a high share price, and a flagging share price could undermine the deals that NSG’s management had lined up,” the DPP said.
“In about 10 months, NSG issued (or promised to issue) over a hundred million new shares at prices between 44 cents and 66.7 cents a share. This set the stage for the trading halt (on Nov 29, 2017), suspension, and market rigging that followed,” he noted.
On Feb 25, 2018, just days after announcing three major deals, NSG announced that its shares would resume trading the following day.
When trading resumed on Feb 26, 2018, the four men began rigging NSG’s share price because Goh, Oo and Teo were under pressure to meet the prices at which NSG had already issued or promised to issue shares during the suspension.
The three men then conspired with Huang to artificially inflate NSG’s share price “to hit certain target prices that NSG set”, the prosecution said.
For example, in February 2018, NSG announced a memorandum of understanding with Haitong International Securities Group (Singapore) to issue a S$5 million (US$3.92 million) convertible bond. At Haitong’s option, the bond could be converted into NSG shares at 60 cents per share.
The WhatsApp chats “speak volumes”, the prosecution said.
In one chat on April 6, 2018, Goh allegedly told Teo: “We have to make it clear to GTC that we’re very disappointed in the share price. We won’t pay the monthly fees for the other months until the share price hits $0.40 in May.
“If we don’t set these targets, it’ll affect how Haitong... and our investors view our shares when we do the deals.”
On another occasion on Sept 24, 2018, Goh “successfully marked the close”, or placed orders near the end of the trading day to artificially inflate the closing price of a security, when he bought 1,000 NSG shares at 25.5 cents and 100 NSG shares at 26 cents.
Without his intervention, NSG’s shares would have closed lower at 25.5 cents, the prosecution said.
In a chat with Oo and Teo on Sept 24, 2018, Goh allegedly told them: “Guys, tell me how to do this, not why we can’t do it.
“I closed today’s shares at 0.26 by buying 1,100 shares. Same thing I’ve been telling the market maker. There is no need to break the bank to keep our shares up.”
If convicted 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.
The trial resumes on Feb 5. Goh’s lawyer, Senior Counsel Tan Chee Meng of WongPartnership, and Oo’s lawyer, Senior Counsel Jason Chan of Allen & Gledhill, will begin their cross-examination of Wei, who was also the investigation officer for the Hyflux trial. - The Straits Times/ANN
