A key defence lawyer in the ongoing false-trading trial of former Chief Executive Officer of New Silkroutes Group (NSG) Dr Goh Jin Hian reportedly alleged that a market maker engaged by the company was trading shares for his own benefit.
According to CNA, the lead lawyer of Dr Goh said this during a cross examination of convicted Huang Yiwen, who was sentenced to a jail term of 27 months and two weeks on August 2025, in the ongoing trial of Dr Goh and Kelvyn Oo Cheong Kwan, NSG’s former chief corporate officer.
In September 2023, Dr Goh, Oo, and Huang and former NSG finance director William Teo Thiam Chuan were each charged with 31 counts of Section 197(1)(b) of the SFA read with Section 109 of the Penal Code for engaging in a conspiracy to create a misleading appearance with respect to the price of NSG securities.
They allegedly placed orders and executed trades in NSG securities for a purpose of pushing up the price of NSG securities on 31 trading days between 26 February 2018 and 27 August 2018. The alleged price manipulative orders and trades include share buy-backs conducted through NSG’s corporate trading account.
During the cross-examination, Dr Goh’s lead counsel, Senior Counsel Tan Chee Meng, challenged Huang’s testimony, arguing that Huang was really trading for himself.
Mr Tan showed trading volume data in 2018 and suggested to Huang that the effect of his “massive trading” in a certain period actually resulted in the share price being depressed.
He also presented text messages exchanged between Huang and Teo, where Teo asked about the results of Huang’s trades and Huang replied that he picked up 800,000 shares.
Mr Tan showed a table, presenting that the total number of buys for that period was 681,000 while the total number of sells was about 444,000.
He pressed Huang on why he had reported acquiring 800,000 shares without noting that he had also sold about 400,000 shares during the same period, which would have depressed the NSG share price.
The trial continues. If convicted of an offence under Section 197 of the SFA, offenders may be liable to an imprisonment term not exceeding seven years, or a fine not exceeding SGD 250,000, or both.
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Photo credit: Manifold Times
Published: 12 February, 2026
