Singapore, 2 July 2024… Mr Sun Weiyeh, a former fund manager and director of One Asia Investment Partners (OAIP)OAIP was a fund management company licensed by MAS under the SFA. MAS revoked OAIP’s license in April 2017 after it was issued with a winding up order by the High Court of Singapore [link]., was convicted on 11 April 2024 and sentenced today to 6 months’ imprisonment for engaging in acts which were likely to defraud investors. This is the first conviction under the Securities and Futures Act (SFA) for fraudulent or deceptive conduct relating to over-the-counter (OTC) bond trading.
2 Mr Sun was charged on 22 October 2020The related media release can be assessed at this link. for two counts under Section 201(b) of the SFA for engaging in acts which were likely to defraud investors of a fund managed by OAIP (Fund A). He had sold two OTC bondsMIEHOL 180206 Mie Holdings Corp 2013/2018 and MIEHOL 190425 Mie Holdings Corp 2014/2019. at lower prices from Fund A to another OAIP fund (Fund B) of which he was the majority investor, while knowing that there were earlier available bids at higher prices. Mr Sun subsequently sold the two bonds to the market at a profit. Mr Sun’s act caused a US$342,500 loss to investors in Fund A.
3 Mr Sun carried out his misconduct by first soliciting bids from various market participants via the Bloomberg chat messaging system. He then used lower bid prices as the reference prices to sell the two OTC bonds from Fund A to Fund B via pass-through trades through an intermediary, instead of selling the bonds to a market participant who had offered higher prices or using those higher prices as the reference prices for the pass-through trades.
4 Following a 26-day trial, the District Court found Mr Sun guilty of both charges. This case was jointly investigated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Commercial Affairs Department of the Singapore Police Force.
5 Ms Loo Siew Yee, Assistant Managing Director (Policy, Payments and Financial Crime), MAS, said, “As a director and portfolio manager of the fund management company, Mr Sun owed a duty to its investors to act in their interest at all times. MAS will take to task persons who abuse their position in the financial sector for personal gain, to the detriment of investors.”
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