John Soh Chee Wen in 2016.Photographer: Sam Kang Li/Bloomberg
PETALING JAYA: Singapore’s public prosecutors are seeking a 40-year jail sentence for convicted John Soh Chee Wen for his role in the island republic’s biggest case of stock market manipulation case in 2013.
The Straits Times reported prosecutors are also seeking a 19.5-year jail term for his co-conspirator, Quah Su-Ling. The pair were convicted on all 10 charges of market manipulation brought against them under the Securities and Futures Act.
The duo were found guilty by court for having manipulated the share prices of Blumont Group, Asiasons Capital and Lion-Gold Corp between August 2012 and October 2013 through a web of 187 trading accounts held with 20 financial institutions in the names of 58 individuals and companies, which resulted in the wipeout of nearly S$8bil (RM27bil) in the market capitalisation.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Tan told the court there was a criminal organisation involving more than 50 people, including chief executive officers and high-net-worth individuals that commanded more than half a billion dollars of funding deployed to manipulate the stock market, the Straits Times reported.
