Alleged mastermind behind penny stock crash loses second bid for bail

Singapore

JOHN Soh Chee Wen, the alleged mastermind behind the 2013 penny stock crash, has lost a second bid for bail.

Justice Hoo Sheau Peng agreed with the prosecution, in a High Court hearing on Tuesday afternoon, that Soh poses a flight risk and could tamper with witnesses if out on bail.

She noted that Soh is a Malaysian with no family ties here, and by his own admission has moved in and out of Singapore "undetected" in the past.

Soh has been in remand since November 2016. An earlier bail application was turned down by a lower court in February last year, also because he was deemed a flight risk.

Soh, 59, faces 188 criminal charges - including seven counts of witness tampering - over his alleged involvement in manipulating the prices of three penny stocks.

The ensuing crash wiped more than S$8 billion off the market.

Justice Hoo added that, in considering whether bail should be granted, "it is important to guard against the possibility of witnesses being tampered with, which could prejudice a fair trial". "This further tilts the balance against the grant of bail," she said.

The prosecution, in a submission on Feb 12, contended that Soh "presents a real, extraordinary and immediate danger of flight". It pointed to witness evidence that Soh has crossed the Singapore-Malaysia land border on an Indonesian passport and had planned to leave by boat for Chinese New Year in 2015 despite his own passport being impounded.

In his latest bail attempt, Soh proposed to be subjected to "stringent" bail conditions, such as remaining within a designated residence, wearing an electronic monitoring device and undertaking not to conduct trading.

But Justice Hoo said on Tuesday that "I do not think that these bail conditions, even if they could be implemented, would address the two risk factors that I have highlighted above".

Soh has argued that being in remand has left him "severely hampered" in preparing his defence.

Justice Hoo noted that trial dates have yet to be fixed and Soh may be remanded for "a lengthy period". His lawyers have also said that, given the scale, nature and complexity of the proceedings, the trial is likely to be lengthy.

"On this point, I would urge parties to give priority to the matter, so that the trial can proceed, progress and conclude expeditiously," said the judge, adding that expedited trial dates could be sought.

Soh was represented by lawyers Narayanan Sreenivasan, Selvarajan Balamurugan and Jason Lim Wei Liang, of Straits Law Practice. Mr Balamurugan told the media after the hearing that whether or not a third attempt at bail is made will depend on Soh's instructions.

Soh and his previous counsel, from WongPartnership, parted ways in November 2017 over what was said to be a conflict of interest.