On 19 February 2025, following a Magistrate’s Appeal, the High Court sentenced:
- Jason Sim Chon Ang (“Sim”), the former Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of the now defunct Jason Parquet Specialist (Singapore) Pte Ltd (“Jason Parquet Specialist”), to 44 months’ imprisonment, for committing invoice financing fraud and for providing illegal financial assistance to Tjioe Chi Minh (“Tjioe”) in connection with the latter’s subscription of shares in the initial public offering of Jason Parquet Specialist’s holding company, Jason Parquet Holdings Limited (“Jason Parquet Holdings”); and
- Tjioe, Managing Director of Tati Trading Pte Ltd (“Tati”), to 30 months’ imprisonment for abetment of cheating by intentionally aiding Sim in committing the invoice financing fraud.
Background
From 2012 to 2015, Sim authorised Jason Parquet Specialist to submit five fraudulent invoice financing applications to three banks. Jason Parquet Specialist would provide the banks with fictitious invoices and delivery orders prepared by Tati, ostensibly as proof of the purchase and delivery of timber from Tati to Jason Parquet Specialist. In return, the banks would pay Tati for the goods based on the amounts indicated in the fictitious documents, which had been prepared on Tjioe’s instructions. As a result of the fraud, the three banks were cheated into disbursing a total of $2,035,000 to Tati.
Sim was charged with five counts of cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code (“PC”) while Tjioe was charged with five counts of abetment of cheating under Section 420 read with Section 109 of the Penal Code (the “abetment charges”).
For one of the five fraudulent applications, a bank was deceived into paying a sum of $535,000 to Tati on 11 September 2012. Tjioe subsequently used the money to subscribe for 2.5 million shares in the initial public offering of Jason Parquet Holdings. For wilfully putting Tjioe in funds, Sim was charged with one additional count of an offence under Section 76(1)(a)(ii)(B), punishable under Section 76(5) read with Section 408(3)(b) of the Companies Act (the “CA charge”).
Sim and Tjioe claimed trial to all charges. On 31 July 2023, following a joint trial in the State Courts, Sim was convicted on all five charges of cheating and sentenced to 36 months’ imprisonment. However, Sim was acquitted on his CA charge while Tjioe was acquitted on his abetment charges.
On 3 July 2024 and 19 February 2025, following appeals by both the Prosecution and Sim, the High Court overturned Sim’s and Tjioe’s acquittals, enhanced the aggregate sentence imposed on Sim to 44 months’ imprisonment, and sentenced Tjioe to an aggregate sentence of 30 months’ imprisonment. The individual sentences imposed on each of the charges faced by Sim and Tjioe are set out in Annex A.
7The salient points of the High Court’s decision are summarised as follows:
- In upholding Sim’s conviction on the cheating charges, the High Court found that the invoices and delivery orders submitted to the banks were fictitious and that Sim possessed the dishonest intention to cheat the banks.
- In convicting Tjioe on his abetment charges, the High Court rejected Tjioe’s defence that he was unaware that the fictitious invoices and delivery orders would be used for an improper purpose. The fictitious documents were prepared on Tjioe’s instructions, with full knowledge that they would be used by Sim to obtain fraudulent loans.
- In convicting Sim on the CA charge, the High Court found that the illegal payment to Tjioe was used to fund the subscription of shares of Jason Parquet Holdings, and that the Prosecution had proven its case by showing that there had been a depletion of Jason Parquet Specialist’s assets.
- In enhancing Sim’s sentence for his cheating charges, the High Court found a heavier sentence was necessary to protect Singapore’s financial ecosystem, and because Sim had carefully orchestrated the fraud for his personal benefit.
This is also the first case in Singapore concerning the sentencing of the offence of illegal financial assistance under section 76 of the Companies Act. In imposing a 12-month imprisonment term against Sim, the High Court emphasised the need to guard against the depletion of a company’s assets and protect its minority shareholders and creditors.
Sim still faces (a) eleven cheating charges for allegedly perpetrating similar invoice financing fraud with three other suppliers to cheat five banks into disbursing a total of over $2,500,000, and (b) one CA charge for allegedly providing illegal financial assistance to one of the three suppliers to subscribe for shares in Jason Parquet Holdings’ initial public offering. The suppliers concerned are alleged to have intentionally aided Sim in the invoice financing fraud and they face between one and nine charges each. Court proceedings are currently underway.
Annex A
Jason Sim Chon Ang
Tjioe Chi Minh
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
20 February 2025 @ 7:10 PM