Former Jade Technologies director sentenced to eight years and nine months' imprisonment, fined S$50,000

FORMER Jade Technologies director Anthony Soh was on Friday sentenced to eight years and nine months' imprisonment and slapped with a S$50,000 fine after he was convicted on 39 charges.

The charges included those for market rigging and insider trading. He also faced two charges for giving false reports to Singapore Exchange (SGX) and the Securities Industry Council.

The sentences imposed for the market rigging and insider trading offences are thought to be the highest imposed in Singapore to date. This is also the first time a person has been convicted and sentenced under Section 140 of the Securities and Futures Act for making a takeover offer when he could not perform its obligations under the takeover.

Soh, then a director of Jade, made a failed voluntary general offer via Asia Pacific Links (APL) to fully acquire Jade, which was then listed on the Catalist board of SGX. Soh was a director and the sole shareholder of APL.

He did so to inflate Jade's share price as he was facing financial pressure in January 2008 owing to Jade's sliding share price and a series of margin calls from lenders for Jade shares he had earlier pledged for loans.

However, Soh did not have the S$116 million he would need for the takeover.

The takeover offer also enabled the sale of more than S$10 million worth of Jade shares to the public at an inflated price, which Soh used to fulfil his other financial obligations.

The prosecution has applied under the Companies Act for Soh to be disqualified from acting as a director or being involved in managing a company after his release from prison. The prosecution has also applied for proceeds of his insider trading offences to be seized from a UBS bank account and forfeited to the State.

Soh is currently out on bail of S$800,000.