JUST this week, water treatment company Memiontec announced that its husband-and-wife founders were being jointly investigated by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
Executive director and chief executive officer Tay Kiat Seng and managing director Soelistyo Dewi Soegiharto were arrested after attending an interview at CAD last Wednesday (Aug 14), and were subsequently released on bail.
The CAD and MAS usually jointly investigate market misconduct offences such as insider trading and market manipulation under the Securities and Futures Act.
In recent months, companies and individuals have made the headlines for offences ranging from insider trading of shares to bribery cases. Here are some examples:
Memiontec
The husband and wife co-founders of water treatment company Memiontec are being investigated for a potential offence under Section 201 of the Securities and Futures Act, which relates to the use of manipulative and deceptive devices to defraud.
They have been arrested and then released on bail. Soegiharto has surrendered her passport to MAS, while Tay is allowed to travel out of Singapore, subject to prior clearance by MAS.
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Investigations are still ongoing, said Memiontec on Monday. Meanwhile, the pair have been deemed suitable by the company’s nominating committee and board to remain as directors.
GS Holdings
Businessman Tay Joo Heng was hit with a civil penalty of S$70,000 by MAS on Jul 1 for insider trading of shares in GS Holdings.
Tay is the sole shareholder and director of GSG Capital, which purchased GS Holdings’ then subsidiary, GreatSolutions for a consideration of S$2 million.
GS Holdings had reportedly approached Tay to be a potential buyer on Oct 2, 2019.
Investigations by CAD and MAS found that between Oct 4 and Nov 18, Tay bought 515,000 shares of GS Holdings while possessing material non-public information relating to the group’s intended disposal of GreatSolutions.
The authorities said: “As GreatSolutions had been loss-making, Mr Tay held the view that the market would react positively to the news and anticipated that GS Holdings’ share price would rise.”
Seatrium
The offshore and marine specialist said in June that the MAS and CAD were conducting a joint investigation into offences potentially committed by the company and/or its officers.
The potential offences were related to a decade-old bribery case in Brazil dubbed “Operation Car Wash”.
They also fell under the Securities and Futures Act and the Corruption Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act.
Earlier this year, two former Seatrium executives – Wong Weng Sun and Lee Fook Kang – were each slapped with five charges of conspiring to corruptly give gratification worth millions of dollars to officials in Brazil from 2009 to 2014. The money was meant to advance the business interests of the company’s subsidiaries in the South American country.
Cordlife
In March, four directors and former group CEO Tan Poh Lan of Cordlife were arrested by the CAD and then released on bail. Subsequently, another director was arrested but has also been released on bail.
The beleaguered cord-blood bank said the arrests were related to alleged breaches-of-disclosure obligations by Cordlife over the matter of irregular temperatures in a certain cryogenic storage tank.
The latest news is that the company has sunk into a loss of S$12.4 million for the first half ended Jun 30, from a year-on-year net profit of S$2.2 million. This came as revenue fell 67.5 per cent to S$9.2 million from S$28.3 million in the previous corresponding period, largely due to the suspension of the group’s Singapore activities.
Cordlife also announced that it has lost its accreditation with the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies.
