http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303847804579478383269953704
Police Ask Singapore-Listed Firms to Assist in Probe
SINGAPORE—At least seven small-capitalization companies listed here have been asked by police to assist with investigations into possible violations of Singapore's securities laws.
In separate disclosures Thursday, four companies said police have sought access to electronic data and hardware belonging to senior company officials and employees, some of whom were also asked to speak to investigators. This followed similar disclosures made Wednesday by three other firms.
The disclosures came as Singapore police opened a criminal investigation into suspected trading irregularities in the shares of Asiasons Capital Ltd. 5ET.SG +1.82% , Blumont Group Ltd. A33.SG 0.00% and LionGold Corp. A78.SG 0.00% Ltd. All three stocks experienced dramatic plunges in October, wiping out billions of dollars in their combined market value following months of big gains.
Singapore's police force and central bank Wednesday said they were working together on the probe of the suspected trading irregularities of the three companies' shares. It wasn't immediately clear whether their investigation was related to the police requests cited by the seven companies. The two agencies didn't elaborate and declined to provide further comments, citing ongoing investigations.
Blumont, LionGold and Magnus Energy Group Ltd. 576.SG -5.00% disclosed Wednesday police had asked for their assistance. Innopac Holdings Ltd. I26.SG -12.50% , IPCO International Ltd. I11.SG 0.00% , ISR Capital Ltd. 5EC.SG -2.47% and ITE Electric Co. 581.SG -6.38% Ltd. announced Thursday they also received police requests. Asiasons said Thursday it hasn't received any police request to aid an investigation.
All eight companies, many of which share links with each other, have said they weren't aware of any offense.
At Innopac, a telecommunications investment firm, Chief Executive Wong Chin-Yong has been asked to assist with an investigation into a possible violation of securities laws, and police have sought access to his electronic data and hardware, the company said.
Mr. Wong couldn't immediately be reached for comment. He will remain as CEO as the investigation proceeds, Innopac said.
IPCO–which has interests in oil and gas, transportation, water and infrastructure–and some of its subsidiaries have been asked by police to provide relevant data, hardware and documents, the company said.
Investment firm ISR Capital said police were seeking data and IT hardware belonging to its chief executive, Quah Su-Yin. Five ISR units and two funds managed by a subsidiary were also asked to provide police with data and hardware owned by directors and an employee of these entities, ISR said.
Ms. Quah couldn't immediately be reached for comment. ISR said it would "cooperate fully" with the police probe.
ITE Electric said it has been asked to provide access to data and IT hardware belonging to Chief Executive Ho Cheng Leong, Chief Operating Officer Ang Cheng Gian, and independent director Goh Hin Calm. None of them could immediately be reached for comment.
The electrical appliances wholesaler said the three men will continue to serve in their roles as the investigation proceeds.
At Magnus Energy, police asked two of its subsidiaries and a former subsidiary to assist in an investigation. Investigators asked for access to data and IT hardware belonging to Magnus Energy Chief Financial Officer Luke Ho and Executive Director Koh Teng Kiat, said the company, which invests in oil, gas and coal-mining businesses. Neither Mr. Ho nor Mr. Koh could immediately be reached for comment.
Many of the eight companies under scrutiny are linked to each other.
Asiasons is LionGold's second-largest shareholder with an 8.9% stake, and owns more than a quarter of ISR Capital, according to company filings. Blumont and LionGold each have a stake in Innopac, at 5.06% and 3.43% respectively, corporate filings show.
Magnus Energy owns a 1.99% stake in LionGold, according to LionGold's latest annual report. LionGold Executive Director Wira Dani Abdul Daim is a substantial shareholder in both Magnus and ISR Capital, according to company annual reports.
IPCO owns 9.74% of Blumont and 7.2% of Innopac, according to corporate filings.
Blumont has a 1.35% stake in ITE Electric, according to corporate records. Mr. Goh, the ITE Electric independent director, owns 3.85% of Innopac, according to Innopac's latest annual report.
Trading in Asiasons, Blumont and LionGold first came under scrutiny in October, when they lost more than 8 billion Singapore dollars (US$6.35 billion) in combined market value over two days.
The collapse of their share prices prompted the Singapore Exchange to suspend trading in the stocks briefly and to ban short selling and margin trading in the companies for two weeks.
Small-cap stocks in Singapore, as elsewhere, can be volatile in trading. In the months before plunging in price, all three stocks had made sharp gains that had prompted publicly disclosed queries from the stock exchange. Analysts and investor-advocacy groups have previously said those gains didn't appear to be supported by business fundamentals.
At the time, the companies had said they weren't aware of specific reasons behind the price movements. But they cited as possible factors proposed acquisitions of other companies, as well as trading restrictions placed by some brokers to curb speculative trading in those stocks.
—P.R. Venkat contributed to this article.
