THERE are no ongoing investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) of utilities company Renaissance United or its subsidiaries and associated companies over their involvement in the 2013 penny stock crash, the company said in a bourse filing on Tuesday (May 2).

CAD is also not carrying out investigations against the current directors of Renaissance United, at least among those that are publicly known.

This was the response from CAD after Renaissance United — formerly known as Ipco International — wrote to the white-collar crimes unit of the Singapore police on Feb 6 asking to confirm if investigations over the securities fraud, which began in 2014, have either been completed or that no further action would be taken.

Ipco International was renamed Renaissance United in 2018.

Ipco was one of the counters linked to the penny stock crash in 2013 that wiped out S$8 billion in market capitalisation from penny stocks on the Singapore Exchange.

Ex-chief executive Quah Su-Ling, along with her former partner and accomplice John Soh Chee Wen, were found guilty in December last year of masterminding the whole scheme by manipulating the share prices of three companies — Blumont Group, Asiasons Capital and Liongold Corp.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

The collapse in the share prices of these stocks sparked a wider selloff, leading the CAD to begin investigations of what would later become the largest and most serious case of market manipulation in Singapore.

Soh was handed a 36-year jail sentence, while Quah was given 20 years.

The former interim chief executive of Ipco, Goh Hin Calm, was jailed for 36 months in 2019 for abetting the manipulation of stocks.

In its response to Renaissance United on Apr 25, CAD added: “As the criminal matter is still pending an appeal, we are unable to confirm anything further in respect of the former directors of the company, and its relevant subsidiaries and associated companies which are featured in our investigation, at this stage.”