SINGAPORE, Jan 4 — Two Malaysians linked to a fraudulent investment scheme that caused over S$13.7 million (RM45 million) in losses to more than 2,000 investors in Singapore have been sentenced to jail.
Leong Koon Wah, 51, was the managing director of Singliworld, a firm that promised trading returns as high as 13 per cent per month through an investment scheme.
“Leong was the mastermind behind the scheme, which preyed on thousands of unsuspecting investors,” the prosecution said in court.
According to The Straits Times, the scheme was fraudulent and caused losses exceeding US$10 million (RM45 million) after collecting over US$21 million from investors worldwide.
Leong was sentenced to 10 years and six months in jail and ordered to pay a penalty of S$3,658,600.
He faces an additional 18 months in jail if he fails to pay the penalty.
Ng Kuan Chuan, 38, who was also a director at Triumph Global and Singliworld HK, was sentenced to seven years and six months in jail after earning approximately US$300,000.
Ng was also involved in the management of Union Markets and was ordered to pay a fine of S$300,000.
He faces an additional six months in jail if he fails to pay the fine.
Leong also served as a director at three other firms: Singliworld HK, Triumph Global (Asia), incorporated in Hong Kong, and Union Markets, a New Zealand-incorporated company.
By May 2015, Leong had earned approximately US$3.1 million through multi-level marketing (MLM) despite having invested only US$1,000.
He also held several accounts linked to the scheme under his wife’s name, even though she had not made any investments.
Leong earned around US$3.4 million through these accounts.
After an 88-day trial, District Judge Soh Tze Bian convicted both men of carrying on Singliworld’s business between March 2014 and May 2015, thereby inducing customers to invest in Singliforex — a scheme where their money would purportedly be used to trade in foreign exchange.
These customers were led to believe that professional traders would conduct the trading on their behalf through “foreign exchange brokerages” — Triumph Global and Union Markets.
However, no such trading had taken place, and the scheme was unsustainable.
Judge Soh also convicted the pair of offences involving Triumph Global and Union Markets.
The men had carried on the business of foreign exchange trading linked to these two firms even though the companies did not have the necessary licences.
Leong had also pleaded guilty to two other charges involving Singliworld.
According to court documents, Singliworld had promoted a pyramid-selling scheme between February 2014 and May 2015.
Singliworld had also carried on the business of foreign exchange trading even though it was not licensed to do so.
In his oral grounds of decision in December 2024, Judge Soh said the Singliforex scheme exhibited multiple hallmarks of fraudulent activity, each of which underscored its deceptive and unsustainable nature.
“In my view, the scheme preyed on investors’ trust through deliberate misrepresentations, manipulation of outcomes, and unsustainable financial practices,” Judge Soh said.
“By combining the illusion of professional trading, guaranteed profits, and MLM incentives, Leong and Ng as the perpetrators maintained a deceptive front while systematically misappropriating funds, ensuring the eventual collapse of the scheme.”
In earlier proceedings, the prosecution told the court that Leong incorporated Singliworld in December 2012 and was its “directing mind.”
He later employed administrative staff from March to May 2015.
Singliworld’s only business was promoting to members of the public the Singliforex scheme.
Leong and Singliworld promised prospective investors that a team of “professional traders” would purportedly trade in foreign exchange on behalf of the investors.
Ng was one of the people who had carried out the “trading” even though he was neither qualified nor licensed to do so.
From around March 20, 2014, to April 30, 2015, those who wished to participate in the Singliforex scheme had to open and maintain a forex trading brokerage account with Triumph Global.
From around May 7, 2015, they had to open and maintain such an account with Union Markets.
Deputy public prosecutors Nicholas Tan, Michelle Tay, and Suriya Prakash stated in court documents that Singliforex investors were not allowed to have the “trading” done via a forex brokerage of their choice.
Investors were also locked out of their accounts at Triumph Global and Union Markets, and could not do any trading on their own.
At the time of the offences, Singliworld did not hold a capital markets services licence issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore for leveraged foreign exchange trading.
Despite this, Singliworld held itself out as carrying on such a business between March 2014 and May 2015.
Leong had also devised a set of financial incentives so that Singliforex would be an MLM scheme, with incentives designed to encourage investors to refer and recruit others to participate in the scheme.
The prosecution said Leong structured the Singliforex scheme to be pyramidal in nature, and placed himself at the apex of the pyramid.
On January 3, Leong and Ng were each offered bail of S$300,000.
Leong is expected to begin serving his sentence on January 31, while Ng intends to appeal against his conviction and sentence.
