sandhu - financial fraud; money scams, embezzlement and swindles in singapore (2013)

[...]... separate investigation was also taking place locally, led by two inspectors from Price WaterHouse who probed allegations of fraud and misconduct by those linked to the Barings scandal These inspectors were appointed by then Finance Minister Richard Hu in early March, and had wide-ranging authority to question officials as well as to seize documents both in Singapore and overseas In April, the Bank of England... was directed to Andrew Fraser, head of equities, and it said: “My concern is that once again we are 17 18 Financial Fraud in danger of setting up a structure which will subsequently prove disastrous and with which we will succeed in losing either a lot of money, or client goodwill, or both.” In my view, it is critical we should keep clear reporting lines, and if this office is involved in SIMEX, then... falsifying accounts and recording fictitious trades in order to hide his trading Chapter 1: The Man Who Brought Down A Bank losses in Japanese stock futures When this finally came to the bank’s notice, it had already lost £860 million Account 88888 Leeson joined Baring Securities London (BSL) in 1989 and was posted to Singapore in April 1992 In July, he opened Account 88888, a secret error account in Baring’s... 1: If there ever was a financial crime in Singapore that garnered the most international interest, it was the case of Nick Leeson The Englishman was responsible for bringing down Barings, one of Britain’s oldest and most prestigious merchant banks As if that wasn’t shocking enough, he was also just a few days shy of turning 28 when it happened Just how did a young and relatively inexperienced trader... office, never to return again 13 14 Financial Fraud The Blame Game Begins On 26 February 1995, the Bank of England announced that Barings had been put under administration In Singapore, the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD)—which probes white-collar offences—started its investigations by questioning key senior Barings employees such as regional managing director James Bax and director Simon Jones Both... discrepancy, Bax instructed BFS financial director Simon Jones to “get Nick (Leeson) out of this loop” and “take on” Hawes Even though both Bax and Jones had earlier denied being involved in any cover-up, the inspectors wrote that “we are unable to accept their denials”, noting that key individuals were “grossly negligent, or wilfully blind and reckless to the truth” because they kept on sending money to BFS... pressure.” 29 30 Financial Fraud Leeson was the only person charged with crimes involving Barings’ collapse On 1 December, Koh mentioned again in court that Bax and Jones, Leeson’s immediate bosses in Singapore, as well as senior executives in London, knew of the discrepancies that led to the auditors being deceived “At one point our client was encouraged to mislead the auditors in certain respects the... be fairly tried and judged in Singapore I wish to apologise to all Singaporeans for having doubted that I could receive a fair trial.” “I have decided to return voluntarily to Singapore and I will therefore not be pursuing my appeal against the extradition order in Germany.” Eckert later revealed that Leeson dropped his right of appeal against extradition for two reasons: he was convinced he had “no... success and his lawyer was talking to the CAD about the charges Leeson Returns To Singapore The infamous trader eventually returned to Singapore on 23 November, 272 days after he fled the country On flight SQ325 from Frankfurt, he reportedly sat in a window seat at the rear of the aircraft’s upper deck in business class Although he wasn’t handcuffed, he had a Singapore security official next to him and. .. escorted into a waiting police car and taken to the Criminal Investigation Department, where he was fingerprinted and photographed He was then brought to the CAD headquarters where he was questioned and gave a statement Mrs Leeson came out of the arrival hall five minutes after her husband was driven away and took a taxi to the city with Pollard 27 Financial Fraud 28 Leeson Charged Leeson was finally . Singapore Cataloguing -in- Publication Data Sandhu, Balvinder. Financial fraud / Balvinder Sandhu. – Singapore : Marshall Cavendish Editions, [2013] pages cm ISBN : 97 8-9 8 1-4 39 8-3 9-8 (paperback) 1 crimes – Singapore. 2. Fraud – Singapore. 3. Commercial crimes – Singapore. 4. Commercial criminals – Singapore. I. Title. HV6771.S55 364.168095957 — dc23 OCN840879271 Printed in Singapore by. of financially- motivated crimes include cheating, forgery, embezzlement and fraud. Some of the criminals mentioned in this book ar e famous—or should we say infamous—while others were involved