The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued prohibition orders (POs) to four individuals for dishonest conduct, which took effect from March 1.
Out of the four individuals, three of them – Lau Wan Heng, Goh Qi Rui Rayson and Teo Boon Cheang – are former remisiers from CGS-CIMB Securities (Singapore), OCBC Securities and KGI Securities (Singapore) respectively.
The fourth, Yeo An Lun, is a former representative of Prudential Assurance Company.
The four persons are among the eight individuals charged for offences under the Securities and Futures Act (SFA) related to false trading in the shares of Catalist-listed Koyo International.
They were convicted and sentenced to imprisonment terms of between three months and 20 months 18 weeks. The court proceedings against the four remaining individuals are ongoing.
Lau was issued a PO for 10 years for controlling the trading of Koyo shares. The deed took place between February 2015 and January 2016, where Lau, who was then a remisier at CGS-CIMB, assisted Lin Eng Jue to create a “false appearance of active trading in Koyo shares” by carrying out trades in the shares in her clients’ accounts on Lin’s instructions.
Lau was charged under the SFA for false trading. She was also charged with 31 counts of unauthorised trading under the SFA, by carrying out trades in clients’accounts or allowing others to trade in the accounts, without the authorisation of the brokerage firms.
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She has pleaded guilty and was convicted on the false trading charge and 12 unauthorised trading charges, with the remaining charges taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing.
She was sentenced to imprisonment of 20 months and 18 weeks on Oct 15, 2020.
Yeo, formerly an insurance agent of Prudential, was issued a PO for six years for handing over his trading accounts to Lin to create a false appearance regarding the price of Koyo shares between August 2014 and January 2016.
Yeo was charged under the SFA, and faced 10 unauthorised trading charges for handing over control of his accounts to Lin. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 26 weeks’ imprisonment on June 18, 2020.
Goh, who was then a remisier at OCBC Securities, assisted Lin between March 2015 and January 2016 by carrying out trades in his clients’ trading accounts on Lin’s instructions.
Goh was also charged under the SFA, and has pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment on Feb 19, 2020.
Lastly, Teo, a former remisier at KGI, also assisted Lin to create a false appearance regarding the price of Koyo shares by placing orders in his KGI trading account on Lin’s instructions between September 2015 and January 2016.
Teo was, too, charged under the SFA. He has pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment on Feb 19, 2020.
Following the POs, the four are prohibited from providing any financial advisory service or taking part in the management, acting as a director, or becoming a substantial shareholder of any licensed financial adviser under the Financial Advisers Act (FAA) for 10 years, 5 years, 4 years and 6 years respectively.
In addition, Lau, Goh and Teo are prohibited from carrying out any regulated activities or from taking part in the management, acting as a director, or becoming a substantial shareholder of any capital market services licensee under the Securities and Futures Act (SFA).
