March 1, 2017.
SINGAPORE: John Soh Chee Wen, the alleged mastermind of the October 2013 penny stock saga, has been accused of seven new charges of witness tampering. Court yesterday denied bail for Soh, who now faces a total of 188 charges. The Malaysian businessman has been held in remand since Nov 24 last year.
Under the latest charges, Soh is accused of asking three witnesses to deny knowledge of dealings and transactions when they were questioned by the Criminal Affairs Department (CAD).
The three witnesses are Gabriel Gan, known as a broker with DMG & Partners; Ken Tai, of Algo Capital; and Peter Chen, a senior executive with LionGold Corp. Together with Blumont Group and Asiasons Capital, LionGold is one of the three penny stocks at the centre of the saga. Asiasons Capital has since been renamed Attilan Group.
After hearing from both the prosecution and Soh’s counsel, district judge Terence Tay called Soh the “protagonist” of this case. The judge added that Soh has “sufficient influence over the supporting cast”.
Others involved in the case include Soh’s girlfriend and alleged co-mastermind, Quah Su Ling, who faces 178 charges of her own for her role in the saga.
Quah, who is out on bail, had earlier wanted to visit Soh but was not allowed to. The court yesterday granted Soh’s request to give Quah a call. The third person charged thus far in this case, Goh Hin Calm, faces six charges, largely for helping Soh and Quah with their transactions.
Soh’s lawyer, Tan Chee Meng of WongPartnership, said his client is willing to accept any bail condition, so they can be better prepared for his trial.
Tan said that Soh tried asking for space while in detention to store the necessary documents. The lawyer reported that prison authorities had retorted: “This is not a hotel.”
Tan also pointed out the seven new charges of witness tampering were made known to him less than two hours before the hearing began yesterday afternoon. “I was not able to take timely instructions from my client,” he said.
Tan stressed the need for Soh to not face such “prejudice” in the legal process. “Let’s not say John Soh was convicted because he was stifled in his defence,” he said.
The prosecutors, led by deputy public prosecutor Teo Guan Siew, argued that Soh is a flight risk. Prosecutors said Soh had previously used an Indonesian passport under the name of Didi Supardi to travel in and out of Singapore.
Tan said his client is willing to be tagged and monitored elec
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