Newcastle bidder Nelson Loh given 58 more charges, including cheating $69m in bank loans

SINGAPORE — Nelson Loh Ne-Loon, the co-founder of Novena Global Healthcare Group (NGHG), was charged with 58 counts of forgery, cheating and transferring the benefits of his criminal conduct.

NGHG was set up by Loh and his cousin Terence Loh, and they made headlines in 2020 over their £280 million (S$477 million) takeover bid for English Premier League club Newcastle United.

Loh, 44, was charged in December 2022 with forgery offences. He allegedly forged financial statements of NGHG in 2019 and used them to obtain bank loans amounting to $18 million.

On Jan 24, Loh was handed the 58 new charges and now faces 60 charges in total.

According to the new charges, Loh conspired with his employee, Wong Soon Yuh, to cheat six banks into believing that audits were performed for NGHG, Novena Global Healthcare, and wine trading and distribution company Giron, thus dishonestly inducing the banks to disburse loans to these companies.

Giron is now defunct. Loh's former wife, Lee Chai Hoon, was a director and shareholder.

The alleged cheating offences took place in July 2019 and involved Maybank, Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank, DBS Bank, UOB and HSBC.

The loans disbursed by each bank ranged from $1.5 million to US$12.7 million (S$17 million), totaling about $69 million.

Loh allegedly transferred multiple sums out of Novena Global Healthcare's accounts to other accounts. He faces 48 charges of transferring the benefits of his criminal conduct.

Wong, 44, also known as Michael Wong, was handed 12 more charges on Jan 24 relating to forgery, cheating and transferring sums which he had reasonable grounds to believe were benefits from another person's criminal conduct.

The two men, who have both been remanded for more than a year, appeared in court via video-link.

Appearing gaunt in white prison attire, they did not speak during court proceedings except to confirm their names.

They had left Singapore and gone on the run-in early September 2020 amid business troubles.

Within days of their departure, the police received a report that signatures of accounting firm Ernst & Young had been forged on some NGHG financial statements.

A warrant of arrest and an Interpol red notice were later issued against them. The notice is a request to law enforcement units worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or other legal action.

The police had earlier said: "With the co-operation and assistance of our foreign counterparts in the People's Republic of China, the two men returned to Singapore on Dec 24, 2022, and were arrested by the Commercial Affairs Department on the same day."

Their cases are scheduled for a pre-trial conference on Feb 1.

Those convicted of committing forgery, intending for the document forged to be used for cheating, can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.

The offence of cheating carries a penalty of a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine.

Those who transfer benefits from their criminal conduct, or property which one has reasonable grounds to believe is another person's benefits from criminal conduct, can be fined up to $500,000 or jailed for up to 10 years, or both.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.