SINGAPORE: Between 2013 and 2018, a man carried out investment fraud on multiple instances, soliciting around S$15 million from at least 96 investors through various companies.
Peh Wei Siang’s offences led to a total loss of about $6 million.
On Thursday (April 9), Peh, 38, was sentenced to 11 years and three months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to 10 charges including multiple counts of cheating.
Deputy public prosecutors Eric Hu and Darren Sim told the court two of the companies linked to the case are Prive Investment and Zabel Investments.
Also linked is the Pixeltrade group of companies.
In addition, some of Peh’s cases involved two other men – Mark Cheng Jin Quan and Loh Zhi Xiang.
Cheng, then 34, was sentenced to 17 months’ jail in 2022 while Loh, then 31, was ordered to spend 1½ years behind bars in 2021.
The DPPs said the three men incorporated Prive in April 2013, and they agreed it would sell shares to investors in exchange for investment capital.
According to court documents, these shares entitled investors to annual dividends, and their capital investments were guaranteed.
Investors were also told that their capital would be used to invest in items such as foreign exchange.
Prive later collected more than $1 million from 17 investors, largely made up of Cheng’s friends and family members.
The money was deposited into Prive’s bank account.
The court heard that $100,000 was withdrawn from it on or around May 30, 2013.
Peh then misappropriated the amount by depositing it in his own bank account. He then used the money on his own expenses.
In mid-2013, he proposed to Cheng and Loh that they could start an offshore company to manage funds for investors.
On Aug 30, 2013, Zabel was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, with Peh and Loh as its registered directors and shareholders.
In December that year, Peh spoke to his uncle, who was then an executive director at UOB Kay Hian – one of Asia’s largest brokerages, said the DPPs.
Peh told his uncle that he was interested in working as a dealer at UOB Kay Hian and the uncle later interviewed him for the position.
In February 2014, Peh started working as an equity dealer with UOB Kay Hian in his uncle’s team.
Due to his position at UOB Kay Hian, Peh relinquished his directorship of Zabel and had his shares transferred to Loh.
However, Peh continued to make trading decisions for Zabel and take part in its management.
In or around April 2014, Zabel took over Prive’s operations and investors.
From April to June that year, Zabel solicited investors to invest in funds it managed including one known as Zabel Assured Sovereign 12 (ZAS12).
To obtain investments for Zabel, Peh lied to parties including Zabel’s investors, claiming that ZAS12 was associated with and/or supported by UOB Kay Hian.
In reality, UOB Kay Hian was not aware of Zabel’s business activities at the time.
Peh also arranged meetings in UOB Kay Hian’s office to make it appear as though his claims were true.
Between April and June 2014, at least 12 investors were duped into investing in ZAS12 and delivered more than $5.8 million in total to Cheng’s UOB Kay Hian account.
On or around May 22, 2014, Peh also duped Cheng into believing that Zabel had to pay UOB Kay Hian a 5 per cent commission.
Cheng then gave Peh a cheque from his bank account addressed to “UOB Kay Hian” for a purported commission of over $156,000.
The DPP said: “After receiving the cheque, (Peh) indicated on the back that it was to be deposited into (a UOB Kay Hian account in his mother’s name).
“In fact, (Peh) controlled this account and used it for his own trading. He received this sum for his own personal use.”
On July 1, 2014, UOB Kay Hian lodged a police report against Zabel, Prive, Peh, Cheng and Loh for soliciting investments from others while falsely representing that such investments were related to UOB Kay Hian.
Two days later, the Commercial Affairs Department started its investigation and UOB Kay Hian terminated Peh’s employment for serious misconduct.
Besides these cases, court documents stated that Peh also carried out other instances of investment fraud.
In total, he solicited around $15 million from at least 96 investors.
The DPPs said: “While some of the monies were recovered through swift action by the authorities, or unknowingly fortuitous withdrawals by investors, a substantial loss of approximately $6 million remains.”
Peh was later charged in court and released on bail of $150,000 in March 2021.
In August 2022, he was granted permission to leave Singapore to travel to Malaysia on a regular basis for work purposes.
But in November that year, he decided not to return to Singapore as he did not want to face the consequences of the criminal proceedings against him.
The Royal Malaysian Police arrested him the following month and he was taken back to Singapore soon after. - The Straits Times/ANN
