Leong Koon Wah (left) and Ng Kuan Chuan at the State Courts in March 2022. They were jailed on Jan 3 over a bogus investment scheme. - Photos: ST
SINGAPORE: He was the managing director of a firm called Singliworld which lured more than 2,000 investors in Singapore into an “investment scheme” that promised trading returns as high as 13 per cent per month.
But the scheme turned out to be fraudulent and there was a loss of over US$10 million (S$13.7 million) after more than US$21 million was collected from the investors, which also included thousands from other countries.
On Friday (Jan 3), Leong Koon Wah, 51, who was Singliworld’s managing director at the time of the offences, was sentenced to 10 years and six months in jail, and ordered to pay a penalty of S$3,658,600.
He will spend an additional 18 months behind bars if he fails to fork out the amount.
Leong was also a director at three other firms – Singliworld HK, Triumph Global (Asia), which was incorporated in Hong Kong, and Union Markets, a New Zealand-incorporated company.
As at May 2015, Leong had earned approximately US$3.1 million through multi-level marketing (MLM) despite having invested only a total of US$1,000 himself.
He also held several accounts linked to the scheme in his wife’s name even though she had not made any investments. He earned around US$3.4 million through her accounts.
Ng Kuan Chuan, 38, who was also a director at Triumph Global and Singliworld HK, was sentenced to seven years and six months’ jail after earning some US$300,000.
Ng, who was involved in the management of Union Markets, was also ordered to pay a fine of $300,000 and will spend another six months behind bars in default.
After an 88-day trial, District Judge Soh Tze Bian convicted the two Malaysian men of carrying on Singliworld’s business between March 2014 and May 2015, thereby inducing customers to invest in Singliforex – a scheme where their money would purportedly be used to trade in foreign exchange.
These customers were led to believe that professional traders would conduct the trading on their behalf through “foreign exchange brokerages” – Triumph Global and Union Markets.
However, no such trading had taken place and the scheme was unsustainable.
Judge Soh also convicted the pair of offences involving Triumph Global and Union Markets. The men had carried on the business of foreign exchange trading linked to these two firms even though the companies did not have the necessary licences.
Leong had also pleaded guilty to two other charges involving Singliworld. According to court documents, it had promoted a pyramid-selling scheme between February 2014 and May 2015.
Singliworld had also carried on the business of foreign exchange trading even though it was not licensed to do so.
In his oral grounds of decision in December 2024, Judge Soh said that the Singliforex scheme exhibited multiple hallmarks of fraudulent activity, each of which underscored its deceptive and unsustainable nature with fraudulent features.
He added: “In my view, the scheme preyed on investors’ trust through deliberate misrepresentations, manipulation of outcomes, and unsustainable financial practices.
“By combining the illusion of professional trading, guaranteed profits, and MLM incentives, Leong and Ng as the perpetrators maintained a deceptive front while systematically misappropriating funds, ensuring the eventual collapse of the scheme.”
In earlier proceedings, the prosecution told the court that Leong incorporated Singliworld in December 2012 and was its “directing mind”. He later employed administrating staff from March to May 2015.
Singliword’s only business was promoting to members of the public the Singliforex scheme.
Leong and Singliworld promised prospective investors that a team of “professional traders” would purportedly trade in foreign exchange on behalf of the investors.
Ng was one of the people who had carried out the “trading” even though he was neither qualified nor licensed to do so.
From around March 20, 2014, to April 30, 2015, those who wished to participate in the Singliforex scheme had to open and maintain a forex trading brokerage account with Triumph Global.
From around May 7, 2015, they had to open and maintain such an account with Union Markets.
Deputy public prosecutors Nicholas Tan, Michelle Tay and Suriya Prakash stated in court documents that Singliforex investors were not allowed to have the “trading” done via a forex brokerage of their choice.
Investors were also locked out of their accounts at Triumph Global and Union Markets, and could not do any trading on their own.
At the time of the offences, Singliworld did not hold a capital markets services licence issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore for leveraged foreign exchange trading.
Despite this, Singliworld held itself out as carrying on such a business between March 2014 and May 2015.
Leong had also devised a set of financial incentives so that Singliforex would be an MLM scheme, with incentives designed to encourage investors to refer and recruit others to participate in the scheme.
The prosecution said that Leong structured the Singliforex scheme to be pyramidal in nature, and placed himself at the apex of the pyramid.
On Jan 3, Leong and Ng were each offered bail of $300,000.
Leong is expected to begin serving his sentence on Jan 31, while Ng intends to appeal against his conviction and sentence. - The Straits Times/ANN
