Five former remisiers in Singapore charged for false trading

FIVE former remisiers from various brokerages were charged in the State Courts on Thursday morning for false trading.

The charges involved as many as 55 securities listed on the mainboard and Catalist of the Singapore Exchange.

The investigation was jointly conducted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Commercial Affairs Department of the Singapore Police Force.

The five charged are Alan Lee, Chew Wei Zhan, Lee Wei Kai, Lim Ming Yi and Lim Ming Chit, in relation to violations of Section 197 of the Securities and Futures Act.

All face charges for conspiring to create a false appearance in the trading of shares to support or raise the share price by executing a series of transactions relating to the stocks.

There were 80 charges brought against Alan Lee, a former remisier with OCBC Securities, for false trading in 55 securities on 80 occasions. Chew, who was from DBS Vickers Securities, faces 79 charges for false trading in 53 securities on 79 occasions.

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Lee Wei Kai, who was previously at Phillip Securities, faces 61 charges for false trading in 44 securities on 61 occasions.

Lim Ming Yi, formerly with Maybank Kim Eng Securities, faces 55 charges for false trading in 41 securities on 55 occasions, and Lim Ming Chit, an ex-remisier with Phillip Securities, faces 22 charges for false trading in 19 securities on 22 occasions.

Alan Lee was offered bail for S$250,000 while the remaining four were offered S$40,000 bail.

The offences allegedly took place between March 2015 and April 2016. If found guilty, they face a maximum fine of S$250,000 and jail of up to seven years for each charge of false trading.

The court has adjourned their cases to Sept 17 for further mention.