SINGAPORE: Former director of Sakae Holdings Ong Siew Kwee was on Friday (May 8) found guilty in a scheme that led to the fraudulent transfer of S$15.8 million (US$12.5 million) from a joint venture linked to the Bugis Cube development.

Ong, 55, also known as Andy, was convicted on one count each of abetting forgery, criminal breach of trust and giving false evidence in court proceedings.

Two of his associates, Ho Yew Kong and Chua Wei Tat, were also convicted in connection with the case.

Ho, a former director of the joint venture Griffin Real Estate Investment Holdings (GREIH), and Chua, an asset manager employed by Ong’s management company, were each found guilty of one count of giving false evidence in High Court proceedings related to the dispute.

In its closing submissions, the prosecution said that the three men and another associate, Ong Han Boon, had tried to "manufacture legal reality to illegally extract money from GREIH".

"They created a paper trail comprising false and backdated documents to make it look like GREIH prematurely terminated a lease it had granted to ERC Institute," the prosecution said. ERC Institute is a professional training and consultancy in which Ong held a stake.

Ong then misappropriated S$15.8 million from GREIH, claiming that it was “compensation” owed by GREIH to ERC Institute.

When GREIH’s minority shareholder, Sakae Holdings, initiated legal action, Ong Han Boon and the accused men "closed ranks" by giving mutually corroborating false evidence about the origins of the lease, the prosecution said.      

Delivering the verdict, District Judge Jill Tan said that she was satisfied the charges against all three men had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

THE CASE

According to the prosecution, Ong’s involvement in the c...