SINGAPORE: Singaporean businessman David Yong was given 12 new charges on Monday (Mar 16) for conspiring to make false entries in accounts and for his company's illegal issuing of loans amounting to more than S$1 million (US$780,600).
The 38-year-old, whose name in court papers was indicated as Yong Khung Lin, pleaded not guilty in court.
The chief executive officer of multinational business and holding company Evergreen Group Holdings, who is on bail of S$1 million, said he would contest all charges.
The new charges are mainly for abetting by conspiring with a Thung Sai Fun with the intent to defraud. False entries were allegedly made in accounts belonging to Evergreen Assets Management from end-2019 to end-2023.
The alleged false entries range from statements about Evergreen Assets Management's total comprehensive income, revenues, and dividends on ordinary shares for certain years.
The company allegedly carried out a business of moneylending without a licence by issuing 16 loans amounting to about S$1.2 million between 2020 and 2023. As a director of a company, Yong is accused of giving consent for these moneylending offences to be committed.
Yong has been in and out of court since August 2024, when he was first charged. Since then, he has had fresh charges levied against him in multiple court appearances. He has also come to court for permission to leave the country - some attempts of which were successful and others denied.
He now faces a total of 17 charges. His case is scheduled for a pre-trial conference in May. Yong is represented by Ms Melanie Ho, Ms Neo Yi Ling and Mr Tang Shangwei from WongPartnership.
If convicted of abetment of falsification of papers as an officer of a company, Yong could be jailed for up to 10 years, fined, or both per charge.
If found guilty of the moneylending offences, he could be jailed for up to four years, fined between S$30,000 and S$300,000 and given up to six strokes of the cane per charge.
Yong had declared himself as part of "Singapore's top 1 per cent super rich" on the Netflix show Super Rich In Korea, which showcased the lifestyles of extremely affluent people who set up base in Korea.
The police said in 2024 that the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) was investigating Evergreen Group Holdings' business activities for alleged fraud on suspicions that investors' funds had been misused.
Various companies under Evergreen Group Holdings were raising funds through the issuance of promissory notes that promised an annual interest of 10 per cent.
These promissory notes - legal instruments where one party promises to pay another party a sum of money - may have been issued in contravention of the Securities and Futures Act, they added.
Companies under the name include Evergreen Grp Holdings, Evergreen GH - formerly known as Evergreen Assets Management (Singapore), and Everventures.
According to Evergreen Group Holdings' website, the company was established in the 1990s and has a presence in multiple countries.
It started out as a timber company and is now involved in finance, automotive, real estate and lifestyle industries.
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The 38-year-old, whose name in court papers was indicated as Yong Khung Lin, pleaded not guilty in court.
The chief executive officer of multinational business and holding company Evergreen Group Holdings, who is on bail of S$1 million, said he would contest all charges.
The new charges are mainly for abetting by conspiring with a Thung Sai Fun with the intent to defraud. False entries were allegedly made in accounts belonging to Evergreen Assets Management from end-2019 to end-2023.
The alleged false entries range from statements about Evergreen Assets Management's total comprehensive income, revenues, and dividends on ordinary shares for certain years.
The company allegedly carried out a business of moneylending without a licence by issuing 16 loans amounting to about S$1.2 million between 2020 and 2023. As a director of a company, Yong is accused of giving consent for these moneylending offences to be committed.
Yong has been in and out of court since August 2024, when he was first charged. Since then, he has had fresh charges levied against him in multiple court appearances. He has also come to court for permission to leave the country - some attempts of which were successful and others denied.
He now faces a total of 17 charges. His case is scheduled for a pre-trial conference in May. Yong is represented by Ms Melanie Ho, Ms Neo Yi Ling and Mr Tang Shangwei from WongPartnership.
If convicted of abetment of falsification of papers as an officer of a company, Yong could be jailed for up to 10 years, fined, or both per charge.
If found guilty of the moneylending offences, he could be jailed for up to four years, fined between S$30,000 and S$300,000 and given up to six strokes of the cane per charge.
BACKGROUND
Yong had declared himself as part of "Singapore's top 1 per cent super rich" on the Netflix show Super Rich In Korea, which showcased the lifestyles of extremely affluent people who set up base in Korea.
The police said in 2024 that the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) was investigating Evergreen Group Holdings' business activities for alleged fraud on suspicions that investors' funds had been misused.
Various companies under Evergreen Group Holdings were raising funds through the issuance of promissory notes that promised an annual interest of 10 per cent.
These promissory notes - legal instruments where one party promises to pay another party a sum of money - may have been issued in contravention of the Securities and Futures Act, they added.
Companies under the name include Evergreen Grp Holdings, Evergreen GH - formerly known as Evergreen Assets Management (Singapore), and Everventures.
According to Evergreen Group Holdings' website, the company was established in the 1990s and has a presence in multiple countries.
It started out as a timber company and is now involved in finance, automotive, real estate and lifestyle industries.
Continue reading...