SINGAPORE —?Veronica?Shim?Wai Han, a former Singapore Airlines flight stewardess-turned-private banker of almost 20 years' standing, broke down in court on Thursday (Nov 28) as she testified that at least two investors in businessman Ng Yu Zhi's $1.5 billion nickel trading scam "had died directly or indirectly because of pressure from this case".
Prosecutors alleged that Ng's Ponzi scheme, which promised attractive profits from nickel trading was "pure fiction" that duped 947 investors of almost $1.5 billion, of which more than $481 million was channelled to Ng's personal bank accounts and used to finance his lavish lifestyle.
The first prosecution witness to take the stand, Shim, the former chief executive of fund manager Envysion Wealth Management (EWM), and her company are named as victims in two cheating charges against Ng, the alleged mastermind of the scam.
Ng, 37, is contesting 42 charges of fraudulent trading, cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust and money laundering, with another 63 charges stood down. The prosecution plans to call on evidence from 58 witnesses over the more than 50 days that have been set aside for the High Court trial.
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EWM was allegedly cheated into delivering $47.3 million to Envy Global Trading (EGT) on at least 17 occasions between September 2020 and January 2021. Shim herself was allegedly cheated into delivering $955,115.08 to EGT on at least four occasions between November 2020 and January 2021.
On Day 3 of the criminal trial, Shim testified: "For all the victims of this case, there is still a lot of negative impact. From the day we were informed that this could be a scam, from disbelief to having to accept the pain that we could be victims of this scam, and then guilt, and... we have people coming to us saying we are stupid, and the embarrassment also."
"The worst is, we are professionals," she added, breaking down on the stand and taking a sip of water to calm herself.
"This case involved too many reputable people. These are not stupid people, and no one deserved to be scammed. There were more than 1,000 investors involved... According to my knowledge, at least two investors had died directly or indirectly because of pressure from this case."
The other alleged victims included Temasek International general counsel Pek Siok Lan, former Law Society president Thio Shen Yi and Vickers Venture Partners founder Finian Tan, known for spotting the potential in search giant Baidu back in 2000, when it was just a small Chinese start-up. Pek was allegedly cheated of $5.5 million, Thio of more than $500,000, and Tan of US$19.2?million (S$25.8 million).
As Shim testified how she and the others felt as victims, Ng, the heavy-set, bespectacled Singaporean now in remand, avoided making eye contact with those in the courtroom.
"We have done whatever we could as professional fund managers," she said. "Everyone out there, please be reminded it can happen to any one of you, whether or not you are a professional. There were experts in commodities and financial industries, and we were fooled because we believed in a Singaporean who was well educated, brought up in Singapore, and was licensed by MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore).
"We did whatever we could to follow compliance, and we thought we could protect ourselves. But when we appear in the news as victims, we faced unnecessary scrutiny from the public, the authorities.
"I had 30 staff in Envysion, and all 30 lost their jobs overnight. But we are still dealing with [upset investors']?shouting, blaming and everything. We tried our best to co-operate with the authorities... Even with all this, me and my two directors could be sitting behind that glass panel (in the prisoner's dock) in the future because we did what we thought was right."
Shim and former EWN directors Doo Chun Ki and Tan Kay Siong have been?charged with various offences?under the Securities and Futures Act and the Securities and Futures (Licensing and Conduct of Business) Regulations.
EWN was the manager of the Envysion Global Investments VCC, which established the Envysion Commodity Strategy Fund. The fund was invested in Ng's company EGT.
The charges are for failing to put in place an appropriate risk management framework for the management of funds and failing to mitigate conflicts of interest related to loans and referral fees received by the company and its CEO through the fund.
Shim is also accused of breaching the Official Secrets Act by forwarding e-mail correspondence between MAS and EWN to Ng.
"Me and the two directors cannot even get a job till today. I am lucky I have family support, but I'm not sure about the other two. And we also have to pay (legal fees) for our own defence. I have built up 20 years of career experience and we had clean records in the financial industry... But we didn't expect people to come up with forged documents. We did our due diligence in good faith... This incident has destroyed a lot of people's lives and livelihoods, and a lot of life savings were at stake," Shim said.
When asked by Deputy Public Prosecutor Gordon Oh if she recovered any of her investment, Shim said: "My total (exposure), including EWN's (exposure), is $16 million... We have recovered nothing because it is all in the hands of the liquidators of Envy Group."
Asked what has happened to the investment, Shim said: "Why don't you ask Ng? We got nothing at maturity."
It was previously reported that Ng paid over $20 million for four properties, and spent close to $5 million on works of art. He also bought expensive jewellery and cars, including a Pagani Huayra Coupe, Porsche 911 GT3, Rolls-Royce Phantom, a Lamborghini Aventador SV J and an Aston Martin Rapide.
Ng?was declared bankrupt on Dec 22, 2022, after he and three others were sued by the liquidators of the Envy companies.
Prosecutors allege that the 947 investors were duped into investing in Ng's companies, Envy Asset Management and EGT, after he claimed that his firms could buy nickel from an Australian mine at a discount and sell the metal for a sizeable profit.
To spin a convincing tale, he forged documents and made false representations himself or through sales representatives of the Envy companies, Oh said.
In reality, no nickel was bought or sold by the Envy companies. The companies paid earlier investors with the funds put in by other investors.
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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
