SINGAPORE: A venture capitalist on Thursday (Apr 3) testified how he came to invest in a scheme perpetuated by Ng Yu Zhi, the man said to be at the centre of an alleged billion-dollar nickel investment fraud.
Dr Finian Tan, the founder and chairman of Vickers Venture Partners – a global venture capital firm – said that he first met Ng in August 2020.
Ng impressed the venture capitalist with his knowledge, intellect and his seeming capability as a nickel trader, with Dr Tan even remarking in court at one point that he was “amazed a young person could amass so much net worth”.
Ng, 37, stands accused of duping 947 investors of almost S$1.5 billion (US$1.12 billion), of which more than S$481 million was allegedly channelled to his personal bank accounts and used to finance a lavish lifestyle.
According to the prosecution, Ng ran an elaborate scheme offering investors profits from the purported sale of physical nickel from 2016 to 2021.
Through his companies Envy Global Trading (EGT) and Envy Asset Management, Ng purportedly deceived investors that he was buying nickel at a discount and selling it for sizeable profit.
In fact, there was no underlying physical nickel trading activity, and investors were instead paid with money invested by other investors, the prosecution has said.
Ng is currently contesting 42 charges comprising 15 counts of forgery, 14 counts of handling benefits from criminal conduct, 10 counts of cheating, two counts of fraudulent trading and one count of criminal breach of trust.
The remaining 66 charges have been stood down for the time being.
The trial, which began in November last year, has had professionals who counted themselves among Ng’s alleged victims testifying in court, including private banker Veronica Shim. Shim, the first witness to testify, is the former CEO of Envysion Wealth Management.
She was charged in March last year with conniving in Envysion’s failure to put in place an appropriate risk management framework for the fund, and failure to mitigate conflicts of interest arising from management of assets under the fund.
Shim is also accused of breaching the Official Secrets Act by forwarding an email thread between the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Envysion to Ng.
Other alleged victims named in charges include Temasek International general counsel Pek Siok Lan and former Law Society president Thio Shen Yi.
According to Ng’s charge involving Dr Tan, Ng allegedly deceived Dr Tan into delivering around US$19.2 million to EGT.
