Ossia CEO sold rare Pagani supercar to Ng Yu Zhi for S$7.3 million and invested over S$20 million in billion-dollar nickel scheme
Goh, chief executive of lifestyle products retailer Ossia International, told the High Court on Apr 24 that he invested more than S$20 million in Ng's Envy companies from 2018 until Ng was arrested in 2021.
Goh got back about S$10 million and lost about S$11 million, he said through a Mandarin interpreter.
He was testifying in Ng's ongoing criminal trial for 42 charges of cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust, money laundering and fraudulent trading.
The 37-year-old is accused of masterminding a scam which attracted S$1.46 billion from 947 investors over six years.
Over the past two weeks, the court has heard evidence of Ng's lavish purchases, which the prosecution alleges were funded by his ill-gotten gains.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
Sign Up
Sign Up
They include millions spent on multiple luxury cars for his wife and girlfriends, US$965,000 (S$1.27 million) on a 20.25-carat yellow diamond ring, S$8 million on a semi-detached house and S$2 million on 41 works of art.
On Apr 24, Goh testified about a blue Pagani Huayra Coupe that he sold to Ng for S$7.3 million in March 2020.
The sports car is among the assets listed in two money laundering charges.
Goh said only 100 units of this model were produced.
He had bought the car directly from the Italian manufacturer and it was the only one in Singapore, he added.
Ng paid Goh a total of S$7.1 million for the car between March and August 2020.
Goh said that for one of the payments, Ng deposited only S$800,000 when he was supposed to pay S$1 million. 'I told him it's all right, you deposit the remaining S$200,000 as an investment for me.'
The S$200,000 was invested in Envy Global Trading, the court was told.
Under cross-examination by Nicholas Narayanan, one of Ng's lawyers, Goh could not recall when he bought the car, but said he paid 'a few million dollars' for it.
When asked, Goh said he had sold the car to Ng at a higher price than the price he had paid, but that it was 'normal', and he agreed with the defence lawyer that the car had tremendous value that appreciates over time.
Narayanan asked Goh if he knew Ng had tried to become the distributor for Pagani for the Singapore and Malaysia market, but the businessman said he did not know about this.
The trial continues.
Ng's nickel scheme was first offered through Envy Asset Management in February 2016.
After the firm was placed on the Monetary Authority of Singapore's investor alert list, the scheme was moved to Envy Global Trading from Apr 2020 to March 2021.
Ng allegedly told investors he could buy nickel at a discount and then sell the metal for profit.
The prosecution's case is that the purported nickel trades did not exist, and that earlier investors were paid with money put in by other investors. THE STRAITS TIMES
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
An unusual football finale in Italy reveals Libya's frailties
SESTO SAN GIOVANNI – On a quiet Sunday afternoon in Sesto San Giovanni, a commune on the northern outskirts of Milan, nearly a dozen police vans arrived to provide security at an aging stadium, which like the town itself had seen better days. Milan is home to one of football's fiercest global rivalries, between AC Milan and Internazionale. But the police were not there for that. Instead, they had turned out in force in case of trouble between fans of two teams whose home base was more than 1,000 miles away, in Libya. The game was part of a curious collaboration between Italian and Libyan authorities that for a second year running will see Libya's football champion crowned on Sunday in Italy, at the completion of a six-team mini-championship. The transplanted tournament is a striking example of the security and political crisis that continues to plague Libya more than a decade after the bloody overthrow of its longtime dictator, Moammar Gadhafi. It is also a measure of Libyans' passion for the sport and of the explosive enmity between Tripoli's two most successful teams, a rivalry that played out last Sunday at the Ernesto Breda Stadium outside Milan. The last time the two teams – Al Ittihad and Al Ahli Tripoli – had met was in June in Libya. Even though that game was played without fans, it ended up making global headlines about an abandoned match, an injured referee, unruly supporters storming the stadium and a team bus reduced to charred ruins. So Italian authorities were taking no chances, even though for this match, too, no supporters were allowed inside the stadium. Libya's football league mirrors its politics. One competition is played in the east, a region overseen by a military strongman, and another is played in the west, where a transitional government struggles for legitimacy. The top three teams from each side have traveled to Italy with the hope of returning home to a heroes' reception. 'Primarily, they would be worried about the security of it, and it's not like they would accept to play it on one side or the other,' Tim Eaton, a researcher at Chatham House, a research group, said as to why the tournament was moved so far from the competitors' home turf. 'Who is the neutral arbiter in the Libyan context?' Holding the tournament in Libya would not be safe for teams or fans. In May, the western half of the Libyan championship was paused as fierce fighting broke out in Tripoli, the capital, after forces loyal to the transitional government killed one of the city's top militia leaders, Abdul Ghani Al-Kikli. The militiaman, known as Ghaniwa, was also the honorary president of the Al Ahli team. Libya's current prime minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, is a former president of the Al Ittihad team. 'We've seen quite a lot of key elites and security figures having a close connection to football clubs,' Eaton said. While Italy has taken up the role of neutral arbiter, even it cannot escape the political divides that roil Libya's league. At last season's Libyan competition in Italy, the winning team's president, a son of Khalifa Hifter, the dictator who rules eastern Libya, was prevented from entering a field in Rome for the awards ceremony because Italy – like the rest of the European Union – recognizes only Libya's transitional government. The younger Hifter told his team to leave the arena, and an impromptu celebration was held instead in a parking lot outside. This year, passions are running as high as ever, even though games have been played so far from home and each team is allowed to bring only 20 invited guests to its games. A first-round match between two teams that share a common name, Al Ahli, but are from opposite sides of Libya ended abruptly with one team walking off the field and refusing to return after complaining about a referee call. But that was nothing compared with what took place a week later in Sesto, where the need for a sizable police operation, which included units of armed military police, quickly became apparent. Even though they were not permitted inside the stadium to watch the game, fans of both teams traveled from other parts of Italy, Germany, Belgium and as far as Libya itself to Milan for the occasion, which was deemed so high-risk that not even invited guests were permitted to attend. Dressed in Al Ahli's green and white jersey, Mohammed al Hamdi, 41, arrived on the morning of the game after taking two flights. Though he had little hope of getting inside the stadium, he said he just wanted to be close to the occasion. 'I'm here to support my team,' said al Hamdi, a father of four. As the number of police officers outside the stadium swelled, so did the crowd of ticketless fans. At first, supporters of both teams mingled, sharing their frustrations about not being allowed inside. Then, as the 6.30pm kickoff time neared, the tensions rose and clashes started, with some fans beating rivals with sticks and belts. The security forces leaped into action, at one point donning helmets and shields to chase after a pocket of Ittihad fans. Inside the stadium, the police were also required, though not for misbehaving supporters. At halftime, Ibrahim Dbeibeh, a 20-something son of the prime minister, swept into the grounds to offer support to his team, which seemed to have the opposite effect as it went down 4-1 after an embarrassing own goal from midfielder Mohamed Zrida that sailed over the goalkeeper from about 40 yards out. The midfielder slumped to the ground in disbelief. Moments later, the game descended into a melee that took almost 30 minutes to bring under control, with rival players and staff members kicking and punching one another, forcing the police to move in. The match eventually restarted after a warning from Valentina Battistini, the Lombardy region's top football official. One more outburst and it would all be over, she warned, as the prime minister's son and the Libyan counsel general looked on, grim-faced. The game ended with the police in riot gear standing guard in front of the winning team's bench until its opponents had cleared the field. At the gates, about 100 fans, held back by police officers in riot gear, cheered their team onto the bus. At the front of the group was al Hamdi, wearing a huge grin and showing no signs of fatigue from his two-flight journey. He had watched the game on his cellphone outside the stadium. 'I'm very happy,' he said, raising four fingers of his left hand and one on his right to revel in the score. NYTIMES
Business Times
2 hours ago
- Business Times
Diversifying away from US equities and bonds, with Europe being a credible alternative.
[GENEVA] The post World War 2 global architecture worked on the basis that the US provided the world with economic stability, security guarantees in Europe and Asia, as well as safe assets like treasury bonds and higher returns through US equities. And in return, the US enjoyed capital flows from other countries investing their surpluses in it. But this set-up is faltering, said Alexandre Tavazzi, head of the chief investment officer's office and macro research at Pictet Wealth Management. Against the above backdrop, he sees a mega-trend of capital repatriation from the US. He noted that 'the world has a lot of capital tied up in the US', amounting to about 90 per cent of the US' gross domestic product (GDP). 'You don't want to be nasty with the people who have financed you, but this is what is taking place in US,' he said. A major trend that investors can play on is Europe's revival, which is led by Germany's awakening, said Tavazzi. He pointed to huge increases in spending by Germany on infrastructure and defence, as well as reform of the debt brake at the state level. For one, Germany's net borrowing at the federal level is expected to jump from 1.2 per cent of GDP in 2024 to 3.3 per cent of GDP in 2025, before rising to 3.9 per cent of GDP in 2026 and 2027. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Tavazzi is positive on European fixed income, where the 10-year minus 2-year yield spread for German bunds is higher than that for US' treasuries. He also sees European equities, which are less expensive than those of their US peers', playing catch up on the back of improving European growth prospects. Tavazzi is eyeing an improving GDP growth outlook for the euro area from the more supportive policy mix, including the German fiscal bazooka and rising defence spending. Meanwhile, in the US, a gradual artificial intelligence (AI) boost only partially offsets drags from debt overhang, more frequent supply shocks and higher interest rates. As the US becomes less exceptional, weakness in the US dollar is posing a big challenge to non-US dollar denominated investors, for whom it was great previously to be in US assets without being hedged, said Tavazzi. He added that the US' imposing of higher trade tariffs on trading partners is hurting the greenback. In China, Tavazzi sees an economy with a strong manufacturing segment but a weak consumer. 'The difficulty in China is to have a clear view about the earnings of the companies in the market, because in the end, when you buy a market, you buy the earnings. And so far, we have not seen a lot of changes in terms of expectations of earnings going higher,' he said. He noted that the housing crisis in China is deflationary and this needs to be resolved before consumer sentiment there can improve. 'We still are dealing with the aftermath of the housing bubbles and the issues, and this is still something which is not ending,' he said. He is bullish on China's technology prowess, which is challenging the US' technological leadership. He notes China has the ability to scale innovation across industries such as AI, autos and semiconductors. Asset management Echoing the need for investors to diversify away from US equities and bonds is Raymond Sagayam, managing partner of Swiss-headquartered Pictet Group and co-head of Pictet Asset Management, which manages around 273 billion euros (S$409.8 billion) in assets for institutional, wholesale and retail clients. Pictet Asset Management has over 400 investment professionals and nine investment centres globally. It has four investment centres in Asia – in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore. Sagayam said that psychological damage has been done by recent major government policy shifts in the US. With investors looking to diversify away from the US, European stocks and bonds can be credible alternatives, he noted. 'We are all familiar with the fact that there is a fair amount of bureaucratic rigidity in Europe. But this is also a golden opportunity for Europe to coalesce and drive forward a reduction of red tape and more of a joint effort on issues such as common debt issuance or infrastructure development,' he said. He pointed out that it is a myth that the Magnificent Seven have a monopoly on innovation, the seven being US tech giants Alphabet, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla. Sagayam sees money starting to flow into Europe, Japan and emerging markets. He also believes that sustainability is important despite the environmental, social and governance backlash among some investors. 'Sustainable investing is actually prudent and should make for better long-term investment outcomes for our clients.' In his view, the focus of the asset-management business is not size but about being the finest. The business focus is on delivering multi-year performance, and not that over a single year, he added. With managing partners at Pictet Group serving for around 20 years each, Sagayam pointed out that clients benefit from a sense of stability from having the same managing partner for many years. Sagayam also sees scope for investors to recalibrate to more active asset management as the embracing of passive investment strategies with the ensuing fee compression makes sense only if there is geopolitical stability. He shared that Pictet Asset Management's assets under management (AUM) in Asia has grown by about 40 per cent over the past five years. 'In the next five years, we want to make sure that much of our focus is on servicing private clients and institutions in Asia, who are looking for innovative global and European exposure, including in topics such as thematic investments,' he said. Sagayam likes where Pictet Asset Management's business sits today. 'We don't tend to over-hire or over-fire. That's why right now, when many asset managers are radically slashing people and costs, we find ourselves in a fortunate position that we don't have to do that,' he said. Quant investing An area where AI is making a big impact in the asset management business is quantitative investments. Today, quantitative analysis of all companies in a universe can use hundreds of features and capture the relationships between the features. With the help of AI, quantitative investment today can capture shorter time horizon market inefficiencies, said David Wright, co-head of Pictet Asset Management's quantitative equities and solutions (Quest) team. He said quantitative investments have had a good run over the past few years and that AI is raising investors' comfort level with this kind of investment. The Quest team has 22 professionals, including numerous PhD holders, and over US$23 billion of AUM.
Straits Times
3 hours ago
- Straits Times
Vietnamese police bust cross-border surrogacy ring, rescue 11 infants
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox HANOI - Vietnamese p olice have smashed a major cross-border surrogacy ring led by a Chinese national, rescuing eleven infants and arresting multiple suspects in a coordinated operation across several provinces. The Ministry of Public Security's Criminal Police Department said on Aug 8 that the gang, headed by a man known only as Wang, was a highly organised criminal network using social media, secure communications and fake identities to evade detection. The case came to light when Division 5 of the Criminal Police detected suspicious activity on social media involving commercial surrogacy with links to other countries. Investigators later confirmed that financially vulnerable Vietnamese women were being recruited as surrogates, with some taken to China or Cambodia for embryo transfers before returning to Vietnam for the remainder of their pregnancy. Following orders from Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Long, Deputy Minister and head of the Investigation Police Agency, officers launched a series of raids on July 15. Suspects taken in for questioning included Quach Thi Thuong, 39, from Lam Dong; Pham Thi Hoai Thu, 38; Phung Thi Nuong, 29; and Nguyen Thi Hang, 29, from Hanoi; Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, 33, from Ninh Binh; and Lo Thi Thanh, 29, from Son La, along with other related individuals. Eleven babies, aged between nine days and three months, were rescued. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Four men arrested in Bukit Timah believed to be linked to housebreaking syndicates Singapore Criminal trial of Hyflux founder Olivia Lum and five others starts Aug 11 Singapore Profile of Kpod user has shifted from hardcore drug users to young people: Experts Tech Former data analyst creates AI tutor that assesses students based on Singapore schools' criteria Opinion Recognising our imperfections is part of what makes Singapore whole Opinion I used to be impatient. Then I became a granddad Business The risks of using 'decoupling' to own two properties Asia Manila struggles to keep a lasting hawker culture, casts eyes on how Asian nations lifted street food Investigations revealed that Thuong, using the Zalo account 'Coca', later renamed 'Pepsi', was recruited by Wang in late 2021 to find women under 35 in good health to act as surrogates. She also hired caregivers to look after newborns and arrange birth registration, DNA tests, paternity certificates, and travel documents. Thu, a former surrogate herself, handled hospital admissions and discharges for surrogates. Thuong was paid monthly wages by Wang with US$1,000 (S$1,284) and Thu received US$500 per month. Each surrogate received about VND 300-400 million (S$14,690 - $19,590) per pregnancy. Police said Thuong arranged about 60 surrogacies, earning VND 575 million, while Thu handled about 40 cases, earning VND 345 million. Some former surrogates, still struggling financially, were rehired as nannies for other surrogates' babies, paid up to VND 750,000 per day. To avoid detection, members of the ring lived in luxury apartments with high security and frequently changed addresses. Through investigations, police also detained three Chinese nationals who had entered Vietnam in May to collect a baby, allegedly on the orders of another Chinese suspect. Police have charged Thuong, Thu, Nuong, Hang, Trang, Thanh and Vo Thi Lan with organising surrogacy for commercial purposes. The rescued infants are now in the care of an organisation run by the Vietnam Women's Union's Centre for Women and Development. Authorities are working with the Ministry of Health's Department for Maternal and Child Health and the Vietnam Children's Protection Fund to ensure the babies' safety while the investigation continues. VIET NAM NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
