Former Director And Former Employee Of Novena Global Healthcare Group Sentenced For Forgery, Cheating And Money Laundering Offences

On 16 August 2024, Loh Ne-Loon, Nelson ("Nelson Loh"), a former director of Novena Global Healthcare Group ("NGHG"), and a former employee, Wong Soon Yuh ("Michael Wong"), were convicted and sentenced to imprisonment terms of 15 years and nine months, and eight years and six months, respectively, for forgery, cheating and money laundering offences.

In September 2020, Ernst & Young LLP ("EY") lodged a police report when they discovered the unauthorised use of EY's signature on NGHG's financial statements. However, by that time, Nelson Loh and Michael Wong had already fled to the People's Republic of China ("PRC").

With the assistance of our PRC counterparts, the duo was returned to Singapore in December 2022, after being on the run for more than two years. They have been remanded since their return.

Between July and November 2019, Nelson Loh and Michael Wong forged and submitted the 2018 financial year audited financial statements of NGHG, Novena Global Healthcare Pte Ltd ("NGHPL") (a subsidiary of NGHG) and Giron Pte Ltd ("Giron") to multiple banks to obtain loan facilities. These financial statements were used by the banks to assess the creditworthiness of the companies. As a result, the banks disbursed approximately SGD $68 million to NGHPL and Giron between 2019 and 2020.

The majority of the illicit proceeds derived from these loan facilities were subsequently transferred to local or overseas entities. Approximately USD $630,000 of the illicit proceeds was used to finance a trade transaction of NGHPL, which introduced illicit proceeds into the supply chain of the company.

The duo was convicted of the following offences, with 60 other similar charges taken into consideration for the purposes of sentencing:

The Police take a serious stance against any persons who defraud financial institutions and/or may be involved in money laundering. These criminal acts compromise the integrity of Singapore's financial system. To ensure that Singapore remains a safe and trusted place for business and finance, we will continue to take tough enforcement actions against perpetrators, who will be dealt with in accordance with the law.