JOHN Soh and Quah Su-Ling have been sentenced to prison for their roles in the penny stock crash which wiped out S$8 billion in the implosion.

Soh has been sentenced to 36 years’ imprisonment, including his time in remand since Nov 25, 2016. Quah has been sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. Soh’s sentence has been adjusted downwards by Justice Hoo Sheau Peng to ensure that the sentence is not crushing for the 62-year-old.

“Having considered the material placed before me, I find that (Quah) may be generally said to be two-thirds as culpable as (Soh),” said Justice Hoo.

Quah was less involved in certain aspects of the scheme, according to Justice Hoo, but was equally involved in laying the foundations.

The case, described as the “most serious case of stock manipulation in Singapore” by the prosecution, saw 96 witnesses testifying over 169 hearing days. Details about how trading accounts were controlled and margin and contra trading was used to artificially inflate the share prices of Blumont, Asiasons and LionGold emerged during the trial.

A lawyer linked to the scheme, Jeffrey Ong, fled the country with escrow monies from his law firm JLC Advisors in May 2019, during the trial. Ong was eventually arrested in Malaysia and charged in June 2019 for cheating offences.

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Both Soh and Quah have applied to stay their sentence and will appeal their cases.

“Armed with a good understanding of the securities and financial markets, and tapping on their extensive connections and networks, they boldly exploited the system... It is necessary and, indeed, of utmost importance for the substantial global sentences of 36 years and 20 years to be imposed on (Soh) and (Quah), respectively, to capture the gravity of their wrongdoing,” said Justice Hoo.