The former head of offshore gas and oil company Swiber Holdings was fined on Thursday ( July 4 ) for making a false announcement regarding a$ 720 million ( US$ 526 million ) project it claimed secured.
Yeo Chee Neng was fined a full of S$ 310, 000 for four crimes, including approving Swiber’s news despite knowing it was false, inside dealing and failing to disclose alterations in his involvement in the company’s liabilities.
He was prohibited from serving as a producer of any business. Harrison is also prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in any company’s administration for five years, according to a police press release on Saturday.
Sentencing was based on five additional fees.
FALSE STATEMENT
On Dec 15, 2014, Swiber released an statement stating that it had secured a US$ 710 million job nomination to give engineering, procurement, design, installation and commissioning services for an onshore field development project in West Africa.
However, investigations revealed that Swiber’s subsidiary had only entered into a letter of intent to provide some services.
The contract price was “estimated to be” US$ 720 million, and it was only subject to review after front-end engineering design studies were completed and field development plan was finalized, according to the letter.
The subsidiary had the right to only spend up to US$ 2 million on some of the work.
The police said that Swiber’s announcement on Dec 15, 2014 had the effect of” significantly overstating” the company’s business prospects and was likely to “induce the purchase of Swiber’s securities” by other people.
Yeo, who was then Swiber’s non-executive director, acknowledged that he had knowledge of the letter of intent and its terms and that the announcement was false. He also admitted that he had approved the announcement on the Singapore Exchange (SGX ).
INSIDER TRADING
Yeo became the company’s Deputy CEO in 2015 and then its CEO and Group President from Jun 20, 2016.
He was given non- public information relating to Swiber’s financial difficulties, due to a slowdown in the oil and gas sector in early 2016.
Swiber was due to redeem debentures, or long- term securities, worth S$ 305 million in June, July and October 2016 and was negotiating with third parties to raise funds to fulfil the redemptions, as well as other operating and financial commitments.
He argued that the business would default if these fundraising efforts failed. On multiple occasions, Yeo shared information about Swiber’s financial situation with his wife.
On June 29, 2016, Yeo was aware that Swiber had not secured the funds, and that this information would affect the company’s security.
He gave his wife a directive to sell the joint account’s Swiber debentures, and she placed an order to sell them for$ 500,000. She disposed of the other half of this on July 5, 2016.
On Jul 27 that year, Swiber filed an application to wind up the company. The winding-up application was withdrawn two days later, and Swiber was placed under judicial management.  ,
It defaulted on the outstanding debentures.
By conducting insider trading, Yeo avoided losses of S$ 629, 762. He voluntarily paid this sum in full before being sentenced, and the state has forfeited it.
On top of the sale on Jul 5, 2016, Yeo’s wife also sold Swiber debentures held in their joint account with a face value of S$ 500, 000 between Jun 28 and Jun 29 that year. She sold a further S$ 250, 000 on Jul 12, 2016.
Yeo learned about these sales on and about Jun 29 and Jul 13, 2016, and that his wife and he had joint accounts of$ 500, 000 in their Swiber debentures as of July 13, 2016.
He failed to inform Swiber in writing of the changes to his interest in the Swiber debentures, as required of him as a director and CEO of Swiber, according to the police.