Five former remisiers have been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment terms and fines for false trading in the shares of 55 securities listed on the Mainboard and Catalist of the Singapore Exchange, over 85 occasions between 9 March 2015 and 12 April 2016.
Among them was Lim Ming Chit, a former remisier with Phillip Securities Pte Ltd who pleaded guilty and was convicted of 10 charges and was sentenced to 12 weeks imprisonment and a fine of $260,000.
The other four other individuals were also convicted of charges with Alan Lee, a former remisier with OCBC Securities Pte Ltd, pleaded guilty to and was convicted of 20 charges. 60 remaining charges were taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing. Lee was sentenced to 24 weeks’ imprisonment and a fine of $260,000. Chew Wei Zhan, a former remisier with DBS Vickers Securities (Singapore) Pte Ltd, pleaded guilty to and was convicted of 20 charges. 59 remaining charges were taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing. He was sentenced to 23 weeks imprisonment and a fine of $260,000.
Lee Wei Kai, a former remisier with PSPL was sentenced to 23 weeks imprisonment and a fine of $260,000. Lim Ming Yi, a former remisier with Maybank Kim Eng Securities Pte Ltd, pleaded guilty to and was convicted of 20 charges. 35 remaining charges were taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing. He was sentenced to 19 weeks imprisonment and a fine of $190,000.
They were convicted for their joint scheme back in 2015, where they carried out a scheme to create a false appearance of active trading in certain securities listed on the Singapore Exchange. The Scheme involved them conducting coordinated trades in targeted share counters in larger volumes and at higher prices, to create an artificial impression of market interest in the securities they owned, thereby inducing other market participants to trade in the securities and driving up the share prices.
In total, the five individuals made a profit of about $1.2 million from the market rigging scheme. Heavy fines were imposed in order to disgorge the five individuals of the profits that they earned.
