Ong Su Aun Jeffrey (“Jeffrey Ong”), the former managing partner of JLC Advisors LLP (“JLC Advisors”), has been charged with 14 additional counts of criminal breach of trust as an attorney and five additional counts of conspiracy to cheat in the State Courts on 20 October 2020.
The current set of charges arose from investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department into an escrow facility held by JLC Advisors for CW Group Holdings Ltd (“CW Group”) [1], a company listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. The 14 criminal breach of trust charges relate to the misappropriation of monies amounting to S$17,477,285.07 from the said escrow facility. The five counts of conspiracy to cheat were aimed at concealing the misappropriation of funds from CW Group’s board of directors as well as the auditor of CW Group’s subsidiaries in Singapore, Ernst & Young Solutions LLP.
With these additional charges, Jeffrey Ong now faces a total of 76 charges of cheating, forgery for the purpose of cheating and criminal breach of trust as an attorney involving a total sum of S$69,266,979.37 plus US$4,851,289.15:
- 1 count under Section 420 Penal Code for cheating CCJ Investment Limited into disbursing a $6 million loan;
- 8 counts under Section 468 Penal Code for the forgery of documents to cheat CCJ Investment Limited into disbursing the $6 million loan;
- 1 count under Section 409 Penal Code for the misappropriation of US$4,851,289.15 from an escrow account between Airtrust (Singapore) Pte Limited (“Airtrust”) and Wrangwell Limited (“Wrangwell”), while acting as a solicitor of JLC Advisors;
- 16 counts under Section 468 Penal Code for the forgery of statements of accounts for the escrow account between Airtrust and Wrangwell for the purpose of cheating;
- 8 counts under Section 409 Penal Code for the misappropriation of $21,554,609.12 from the share placement proceeds for Allied Technologies Limited (“Allied Technologies”) while acting as a solicitor of JLC Advisors;
- 3 counts under Section 409 Penal Code for the misappropriation of $12,285,065.85, being the balance proceeds from the sale of Allied Technologies’ subsidiary, Allied Machineries (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., while acting as a solicitor of JLC Advisors;
- 14 counts under Section 417 Penal Code for the issuance of false escrow notices between 3 November 2017 and 22 January 2019 to the Board of Directors of Allied Technologies;
- 1 count under Section 467 Penal Code for the forgery of a JLC Advisors partner’s signature on a cheque for $33,153,416.56, which was issued to Allied Technologies;
- 4 counts under Section 409 Penal Code for the misappropriation of $11,700,020 of escrow funds held for Allied Technologies, while acting as a solicitor of JLC Advisors;
- 1 count under Section 409 Penal Code for the misappropriation of $250,000 belonging to a client of JLC Advisors, while acting as a solicitor of JLC Advisors;
- 11 counts of Section 409 read with Section 109 Penal Code for the misappropriation of S$17,212,344.67 from the escrow account of CW Group while acting as a solicitor of JLC Advisors;
- 3 counts of Section 409 Penal Code for the misappropriation of S$264,940.40 from the escrow account of CW Group while acting as a solicitor of JLC Advisors;
- 1 count under Section 417 read with Section 109 Penal Code for engaging in a conspiracy to cheat the Board of Directors of CW Group into omitting to investigate missing monies in the escrow account of CW Group; and
- 4 counts under Section 417 read with Section 109 Penal Code for engaging in a conspiracy to cheat Ernst & Young Solutions LLP into issuing a clean opinion on its audit of CW Group’s Singapore-based subsidiaries.
[1] CW Group Holdings was listed on the Mainboard of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong on 13 April 2012. It is a is a precision engineering solutions provider, machine tool manufacturer and distributor. Its headquarters along with several subsidiaries is in Singapore with its production facilities in the People’s Republic of China.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
20 October 2020 @ 11:45 AM