(Bloomberg) — An ex-accountant accused of running a billion-dollar nickel scam that rocked Singapore’s business community pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to 42 charges including money laundering.
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Prosecutors allege that Ng Yu Zhi, 37, raised money for trades that did not exist. Hundreds of clients, many of them high-profile figures in the city-state, put their money into a $1.1 billion scheme tied to Ng’s Envy Group, which offered investments in nickel trading and touted impressive average quarterly gains of 15%.
Ng, meanwhile, spent millions to fund an extravagant lifestyle, including a three-story villa in a high-end neighborhood and a multi-million-dollar Pagani sportscar.
Singapore police have referred to the scam, carried out between 2020 and 2021, as one of the country’s largest ever investment frauds. It’s also the latest in a series of scandals in the financial and commodities-trading hub, which is now eager to restore a reputation for good governance.
Earlier this month, former oil tycoon Lim Oon Kuin, 82, was handed a 17-and-half year jail sentence for cheating HSBC Holdings Plc and instigating forgery. In October, S. Iswaran became the first ex-cabinet minister to be jailed in almost half a century, after pleading guilty in charges including obstruction of justice.
The law firms representing Ng are Legal Eagles, Nicholas & Tan Partnership LLP, Nine Yards Chambers LLC, R. Ramason & Almenoar.
Ng, who initially faced more than 100 charges, has been held in remand for more than nine months.
A civil trial began on July 30 in Singapore’s High Court.
(Updates with Ng’s plea)
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