THE High Court today sentenced John Soh Chee Wen, the mastermind of Singapore’s biggest stock market manipulation, to 36 years’ jail, the Straits Times reported.

His co-conspirator Quah Su-Ling was given a 20-year prison sentence in a case that wiped out nearly S$8 billion (RM26.3 billion) in market value in October 2013.

The court delivered its decision today after 200 days of trial spanning nearly four years. There were 349 successful charges.

Both Soh and Quah are appealing against their sentences.

The pair were found to have manipulated the share prices of Blumont Group, Asiasons Capital and LionGold Corp – known collectively as BAL – between August 2012 and October 2013, through 187 trading accounts held with 20 financial institutions in the names of 58 individuals and companies.

Judge Hoo Sheau Peng, in the ruling, said “In terms of the large number of controlled accounts and intermediaries and financial institutions involved, and the substantial volume of BAL trades and high percentage of whole market’s trading volume, ... the accused are to be held responsible for most of the trades.”

On Quah, Hoo said “In my view, there is no dispute that Quah is less culpable, and she is less involved in terms of the scheme’s conceptualisation and execution. As a starting point for the false trading and price manipulation charges, I will impose on Quah two-thirds of the sentence imposed on Soh.”

“The accused perpetrated the scheme on a substantial scale. They were armed with a good understanding of financial markets and exploited the system for a prolonged period of 14 months. They did so for financial gain. By the time of the market crash and even after their scheme failed, they continued to subvert justice.

“It is necessary and of utmost importance for the global sentences to be imposed on the accused to capture the gravity of their wrongdoing,” Hoo reportedly added.

The 63-year-old Soh has been in remand since November 2016, while 58-year-old Quah was out on a bail of S$4 million.

The charges cover false trading, deception, cheating and tampering. – December 28, 2022.