Nickel scam accused paid S$7 million for 8 luxury cars and S$1 million for vintage car plate: dealer

[SINGAPORE] Alleged nickel fraudster Ng Yu Zhi was said to have splurged about S$7 million on eight luxury cars – five of them transferred to his wife and girlfriends – and over S$1 million on a vintage car registration plate number. 

Michael Ho, a director of F1 Auto and F1 Auto Cars, testified in Ng’s trial on Friday (Apr 11) that the accused purchased a total of eight luxury cars between June 2020 and January 2021 from his motor trading companies.

Ng paid about S$7 million for the two Mercedes Benzes, two Rolls-Royce Phantoms that are top of the range, one Bentley, one BMW, one Aston Martin and one Ferrari via cheques or bank transfers.

Among the eight cars, one Rolls-Royce Phantom and a Mercedes Benz were transferred to his wife, Cai Meizhen; another Mercedes Benz to Qian Yijun; one Bentley to Wang Ruoxuan; another Rolls-Royce Phantom to Tay Li Ting; and an Aston Martin Rapide to Cheong Ming Feng.

The Ferrari 575, although paid for, was not transferred to Ng as he wanted repairs to be made. But Ng eventually did not take possession or arrange for ownership transfer. 

When asked by Deputy Public Prosecutor Chan Yi Cheng about the relationship between these recipients of the cars from Ng, the witness identified Qian, Wang and Tay as the accused’s girlfriends, but did not know how Cheong is related to Ng.

In the lawsuit where the liquidators of the Envy group of companies have sued to recover about S$855 million from Ng and three others including Cheong, the latter was identified as a former employee of Envy.

Ng also bought two vehicle registration plate numbers, paying slightly more than S$1 million in September 2020 for a vintage “S11T”, and S$91,000 in June 2020 for the car plate number “ES11J”, the High Court heard.

Ho said that the vintage registration plate number “S11T” was significant as it was probably the first civilian car plate number since Singapore’s independence. He deduced this as the plate numbers 1-10 were reserved for government officials.

The prosecution sought to show through Ho the types of cars and the lifestyle Ng led.

Ng is accused of masterminding a nickel-trading scam that attracted about S$1.5 billion from 947 investors from 2016 to 2021.

The 37-year-old allegedly did so by claiming that his company Envy Global Trading (EGT) was buying nickel at a discount and selling the metal for a profit. But the prosecution contends that no nickel was actually bought or sold – earlier investors were paid with money put in by other investors in the Ponzi scheme.

Ho testified that he was introduced to Ng over a lunch in 2018, and they became friends. Before Ng made his first car purchase from Ho’s companies, Ng’s colleague Li Si Ye had bought one.

Ng’s lawyer Nichol Yeo pointed out to Ho in cross-examination that the accused was the owner of Envy Motors, which traded in cars and car licence plate numbers. Ho said he knew that Ng owned a motor vehicles trading business but not sure if the accused was merely an investor or was involved in the operations of Envy Motors.

Ho agreed with Yeo that vintage licence plate numbers would generally appreciate in value over time.

He said he was approached both by the police as well as Ng in 2021 – after police investigations started – to sell off all of Ng’s cars.

Ho’s companies bought back some of the cars they sold Ng as well Ng’s supercar Pagani Huayra through a tender, with the proceeds paid to the Accountant-General.

The witness was also an investor in Ng’s purported nickel trading business, having pumped in S$200,000 but it was not made through Ng.

He added that the investment, which he never took out, was made because of the relationship with Ng as well as in the hope of getting some return.

Other motor dealers are expected to take the stand when the trial resumes next Tuesday.