The Informatics affair 2

Continued from previous post.


Some of Infomatics' top executives were charged in court with the creative accounting practices used by IGSPL (Informatics Group Singapore Pte Ltd). They were Wong Tai and Ong Boon Kheng.

Wong Tai, Chairman and non-executive director of IHL Ltd, was charged under the Securities and Futures Act with 2 charges of making false statements by misstating the company's profits in 2 quarterly income statements by by $4.18 million and $0.84 million. He pleaded guilty to 2 charges, with 2 others to be taken into consideration.

The District Court considering facts that he was a first time offender and was not personally involved in the
preparation of the financial statements fined him $120,000 on each of the charges.

Ong Boon Kheng, Chief Executive Officer of Informatics at the relevant time, claimed trial. He was charged with 4 counts, 3 of which related to false accounting in the first, second and third quarters 2003 financial statements of the company while the 4th related to a statement made to the Singapore Exchange, SGX.

Tan Cheng Han, specialist district judge (and also Dean of the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore) sentenced him to a total fine of $445,000.

Ong was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of $45,400 for the 28 day trial.

The sentences were upheld by High Court judge Tay Yong Kwang on appeal.

The above convictions are probably sufficient to disqualify the above 2 directors from acting as directors under the Companies Act.