SINGAPORE: The Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court’s sentences and dismissed applications by John Soh Chee Wen and Quah Su-Ling, co-conspirators behind Singapore’s 2013 penny stock crash, to reduce their jail terms of 36 years and 20 years respectively. Quah, Soh’s ex-partner, had “relied heavily on the judge’s observation that she was (Soh’s) Girl Friday assistant,” or one who simply followed instructions and did not play a key role in the conspiracy. “But there is a limit that (Quah) can take this argument, especially since she elected not to give evidence during the trial,” the court said. This included alleging that the trial judge was biased against his client, had shown “excessive interference” in the trial, and had inferred guilt on Quah after finding Soh guilty of witness tampering. The court found that Sivananthan had “acted improperly,” “cast baseless aspersions against the judge and wasted court resources”.
