Allied Technologies executive director Kenneth Low arrested, named as co-accused of Jeffrey Ong in 5 charges

KENNETH Low Si Ren, Allied Technologies' executive director - who has been implicated by JLC Advisors' former managing partner as being allegedly responsible for the Catalist-listed firm's missing escrow funds - has been arrested.

His arrest was made on Wednesday, The Business Times understands.

Allied Tech reported to the police two years ago that over S$33 million held in escrow by JLC Advisors had gone missing while the law firm's then managing partner Jeffrey Ong Su Aun became incommunicado.

Mr Low was named as the co-accused in five of the charges that Ong is facing after the prosecution had amended the charges on Friday, and disclosed this development during Ong's bail review application.

Meanwhile, the district court has adjourned Ong's bail review application hearing to next Tuesday. The prosecution has objected to the application as Ong is deemed a flight risk in this case of "largest amount of money ever misappropriated by a lawyer".

Lawyer Tan Hee Joek, who represents Ong in the criminal proceedings, said that there is a former Singapore Armed Forces overseas scholar known as Mr Lien who has known Ong for about 30 years and is willing to stand bail for his client.

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Ong has been seeking to be bailed out so that he can take out civil proceedings against those he claims to be responsible for the misappropriated funds. He had named Low and Allied Tech's substantial investor Lin Tah Hwa as the persons who had directed the release of the escrow funds.

Among the various allegations made by Ong against Mr Low was that the latter had instructed the release of S$3.2 million of escrow funds for the purchase of Thong Teck Building units. Mr Low later reportedly made a quick flip, selling it to mainboard-listed Top Global two years ago.

Ong, 43, in his affidavit to support his bail review application, claimed that the amount of funds held in escrow for Allied Tech was in fact much lower than the over S$33 million reported by the Catalist-listed precision engineering firm.

He alleged that there were instructions from Mr Low or Mr Lin to disburse S$16.9 million of the escrow funds to various parties. The released funds included a total of S$7.7 million to two firms linked to Mr Low, his wholly-owned Platform Capital Asia (PCA) and 49 per cent-held Asia Box Office (ABO).

BT had reported then that a purchase option was granted to Top Global on the same day that Mr Low took control of the units.

ABO is an event ticketing solutions provider that Allied Tech acquired a 51 per cent stake for S$30 million in April 2018.

Ong claimed that these funds were released under instructions from Mr Low or Mr Lin but they had not followed up with release notices as promised, and therefore it appeared that the escrow funds were still intact.

Ong had also alleged in his affidavit how Mr Low and Mr Lin started taking control of Allied Tech in 2017 as they were acquiring the stakes of then controlling shareholder Hsu Ching Yuh. They had devised several transactions involving the Catalist-listed firm and directing payments including a S$2 million severance payout by Allied Tech to Mr Hsu when it should have been made by the duo, claimed Ong.

Ong was introduced to Mr Lin, who was said to be a member of the Khoo Teck Puat family as well as the founder of Lin Securities which went bust after the Pan-Electric Industries debacle in 1985.

The investor bought an 8.44 per cent stake in Allied Tech in November 2017, and continued to build up his shareholding before reducing his ownership from 22.79 per cent to 9.49 per cent.

Allied Tech had said that it would be consulting its special auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers Risk Services (PwC), and its auditors at the material time, Ernst & Young, in response to the allegations against Mr Low and Mr Lin.

It would also await the conclusion of the PwC audit or further information before taking further steps to recover the escrow funds placed with JLC.

Ong faces 76 charges in total including misappropriation of funds as a lawyer, forgery and cheating, with the total sums amounting to about S$76 million, according to the prosecution. He has been in remand for almost two years.