Goh Chok Tong’s Son Charged With False Trading Offences, Faces Up To 7 Years’ Jail

Goh Chok Tong's Son Charged With False Trading Offences, Faces Up To 7 Years' Jail

Son Of Former PM Goh Chok Tong Goh Jin Hian Among 4 Men Charged With False Trading Offences

Three years ago, news broke that Goh Jin Hian, the son of Goh Chok Tong and former CEO of investment holding company New Silkroutes Group (NSG), was under investigation for alleged false trading and market rigging.

Goh Chok Tong’s Son Under Probe For Alleged False Trading, Has Passport Seized

On Wednesday (20 Sep), the court charged Goh and three other men with market manipulating offences.

If convicted, they could be jailed for up to seven years, fined up to S$250,000, or both.

Goh Jin Hian among 4 men charged with offences

According to a statement by the Singapore Police Force (SPF), Goh was slapped with a total of 39 charges under the Securities and Futures Act.

The 54-year-old is among four men who were charged with 31 counts of engaging in a conspiracy to create a misleading appearance with respect to the price of NSG securities.

The three other men are:

  • Oo Cheong Kwan Kelvyn, former Chief Corporate Officer of NSG
  • Teo Thiam Chuan William, former Finance Director of NSG
  • Huang Yiwen, sole director of GTC Group Pte Ltd

They did this by allegedly placing orders and executing trades in order to push up the prices of NSG securities on 31 trading days.

This occurred between 26 Feb and 27 Aug 2018.

The alleged price manipulative orders and trades include share buybacks conducted through NSG’s corporate trading account, the police statement noted.

In addition, Goh faces an additional eight charges for allegedly placing orders and executing trades in NSG securities through his personal trading account between 31 Aug and 4 Dec 2018.

Again, he purportedly did this to push up the price of NSG securities.

Charges arose after  joint investigation by police & MAS

The SPF said that the charges arose from a joint investigation between its Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

In October 2020, NSG announced that Goh was resigning from his position to “devote more time to his personal affairs”, The Straits Times (ST) reported.

Teo left that same month and Oo had stepped down two months earlier.

This was after the company confirmed that Goh and Teo were assisting in CAD investigations.

Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reported that Goh, Teo, and Oo will be back in court next month.

As for Huang, who may face more charges, he will return to court for a further mention in November.

A conviction carries a prison term of up to seven years, a fine not exceeding S$250,000, or both.

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Featured image adapted from AP via TIME.

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