THE former executive director and group chief executive officer (CEO) of Swiber Holdings, Francis Wong Chin Sing, was on Monday (Mar 25) fined S$100,000 for making a false statement under the Securities & Futures Act (SFA).

In December 2014, Swiber made an announcement on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) about having secured a US$710 million award to provide engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning services for an offshore field development project in West Africa.

Investigations later revealed that Swiber, through its senior management, had known that the announcement was materially false, because Swiber’s wholly owned subsidiary had only signed a letter of intent authorising expenditure of up to US$2 million on the project. 

The announcement had the effect of significantly overstating Swiber’s business prospects, which was likely to have induced the purchase of the company’s securities by investors. However, members of Swiber’s board, including Wong, approved the statement.

Swiber went under judicial management in 2016, and was delisted from the SGX Mainboard last June.

Last October, eight of its directors were charged under the SFA for their roles in approving the release of the false statements. 

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Of the eight, five (including Wong) were charged with consenting to the false statement; the remaining three were charged with neglect in connection with it.

Wong admitted to the offence under Section 199 (b)(ii) of the SFA on Monday and was fined S$100,000; if he does not pay the fine, he will face 20 weeks’ imprisonment. He was also disqualified from holding director roles for five years.

The three directors who faced charges of neglect – Oon Thian Seng, Chia Fook Eng and Jean Pers – had earlier pleaded guilty. They were each fined S$10,000, and would have faced a month’s imprisonment if they failed to pay it. They were each also handed down the mandatory five-year disqualification from taking on director roles.