SINGAPORE - Singaporean lawyer Jeffrey Ong Su Aun is facing eight new charges of forgery for the purpose of cheating an investment company into disbursing $6 million.
It means the managing partner of JLC Advisors law firm now faces a total of nine charges. He was first charged with cheating on June 1.
The 41-year-old is being linked to more than $33 million that went missing last month after being held in escrow by JLC Advisors for client Allied Technologies.
Ong too went missing before being caught in Malaysia and brought back to Singapore on May 30.
Ong appeared in court via a video link on Thursday (June 13) as he is currently being held on remand.
The eight new charges relate to him allegedly committing forgery by fraudulently signing documents as James Tan Kwang Yong, the director and sole shareholder of Suite Development, and Joel Tan Guang Qian, the company secretary of Suite Development, on Feb 18 and 19.
In doing so, Ong is said to have dishonestly induced CCJ Investments to disburse a sum of $6 million.
According to court documents, some $3.3 million was then used to refinance Suite Development's mortgage loan and about $2.7 million was deposited into the account of a JLC client.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Khoo told the court that three clients of JLC Advisors have since come forward to the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD), in relation to unauthorised transactions made from monies totalling $16 million that were held by the law firm.
As such, DPP Khoo asked for Ong's remand to be extended to allow the CAD to conduct its investigations.
Ong will be back in court on June 20.
