FOUR individuals have been convicted and jailed for false trading in the shares of Catalist-listed Koyo International : 5OC 0% and deceiving several brokerage firms through the unauthorised use of trading accounts.

Pleading guilty to their charges, Lin Eng Jue was handed a 42-month imprisonment term; Ang Wei Jie Simon received 13 months; Koh Cheo Leng, 19 weeks; and Chong Yew Mun Alan, 11 weeks, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Thursday (Jul 13).

They are the last four of eight individuals convicted by the court for scheming to carry out trades aimed at creating a false impression of the price of Koyo shares. The schemers were sentenced between Feb 19, 2020 and Jul 13, 2023, with Chong being the last to be sentenced.

Between August 2014 and January 2016, the schemers obtained control of 53 trading accounts opened in the name of 15 individuals, to buy and sell Koyo shares at progressively higher prices. This was done with the aim of attracting a buyer to acquire the company via a reverse takeover.

Koyo’s share price rose from a low of S$0.16 on Aug 12, 2014, to a high of S$0.40 on Jan 14, 2016. It then plummeted to S$0.056 on Jan 18, 2016, after the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited issued a “trade-with-caution” alert on the back of unusual trading activity, and several brokerages imposed trading curbs.

MAS said: “Following the crash, account holders suffered losses of approximately S$3.28 million, of which S$1.05 million were borne by the brokerages and remisiers.”

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Among the eight, Lin committed the most offences: one count of false trading under Section 197(1)(b) of the Securities and Futures Act (SFA), 15 counts of deception under Section 201(b) of the SFA, and 34 counts of Section 201(b) of the SFA were considered for his sentencing. He was sentenced on May 31, 2023. MAS noted that he filed a notice of appeal against his sentences the same day.

Shares of Koyo International closed unchanged at S$0.044 on Thursday.