SINGAPORE – To dupe investors into pouring their money into a fake teak wood investment scheme, a man and his father invited potential investors to seminars and even a site visit to a teak plantation in Indonesia.
A total of 92 investors signed 131 investment agreements and paid $2.26 million to participate in the “investment schemes”.
On Monday (May 23), Matthew Goh Tian Si, 44, the director of Prosperity Ventures Global and Abby Resource, admitted to misappropriating more than $1.4 million of the total amount.
He was convicted on one count of criminal breach of trust. Another similar charge will be taken into account in his sentencing.
Goh’s father, Goh Toh Heng, 79, who claimed to be a director of an Indonesia-incorporated company identified in court documents as PT Abby Resources Minerals, was involved in the ruse. His case is pending.
The court heard that between December 2014 and July 2016, Prosperity Ventures was purportedly marketing mature teak investment opportunities offered by PT Abby Resources Minerals.
The first scheme claimed to offer a one-year investment with an annual return of 24 per cent, and the second a two-year investment with an annual return of 17 per cent.
The investment agreements assured investors of a guaranteed return of the principal sum at the end of the investment period.
The investors signed and received a sale and purchase agreement and a certificate of ownership of the share of teak trees.
Among other things, the agreement falsely…
