Four men allegedly conspired to push up the share price of New Silkroutes Group as a way to facilitate the company's expansion through acquisitions.LinkedIn
The other co-accused are Oo Cheong Kwan Kelvyn, 53, then the executive director and chief operating officer of NSG; and Huang Yiwen, 40, the sole director of commercial market maker GTC Group. However, its efforts to acquire companies and raise capital through private placements were hindered by its declining share price in 2017.The share price ranged from S$0.70 to S$0.90 from January to May 2017, before dropping to around S$0.40 to S$0.50 in June. It hit a low of S$0.285 in November that year.
NSG also announced a memorandum of understanding with a third party named Mr Shen Yuyun in February 2018, to acquire two medical supply companies in Shanghai. NSG planned to issue new shares at S$0.50 per share to complete the acquisition for S$65 million. However, Teo, Goh and Oo allegedly hired GTC to place orders and execute trades for NSG securities for the specific purpose of artificially pushing up and maintaining the price of NSG securities, under the guise of providing legitimate market-making services.
"This was a concerted and coordinated effort between and his co-accused persons to engage in market rigging," said the team of three prosecutors.The trading suspension in NSG shares was lifted after the market closed on Feb 25, 2018.