Update: Court denies bail for Soh in 2013 penny stock case

A DISTRICT judge denied bail to Malaysian businessman John Soh Chee Wen on Tuesday as prosecutors added seven new charges of witness tampering related to the 2013 penny stock crash and alleged his additional involvement in the stock of ISR Capital.

The judge said that the totality of the evidence, which included allegations by the prosecution that Soh had previously used a fake Indonesian identity to enter and leave Singapore, suggested that Soh was a flight risk. The judge also accepted the prosecution's portrayal of Soh as a "protagonist" in the 2013 crash and who "has significant influence over the supporting cast".

Soh now faces 188 charges related to the penny crash, in which the collapse of Asiasons Capital (now Attilan Group), Blumont Group and LionGold Corp in October 2013 triggered a massive selloff in low-priced stocks on the Singapore Exchange.

Prosecutors have also charged former Ipco International chief executive Quah Su-Ling and former Ipco interim CEO Goh Hin Calm in the case, which has been described by investigators as the largest securities fraud case in Singapore. Bail was previously set at S$4 million for Quah and at S$750,000 for Goh.