The 41-year-old Singapore lawyer, who was allegedly linked to the disappearance of more than $33 million of his client, was charged with eight counts of forgery for the purpose of cheating, on Thursday, June 13.
Jeffrey Ong Su Aun was first charged in court on June 1 with cheating CCJ Investments and now the accused, who is the managing partner of law firm JLC Advisors faced total nine charges.
As per the court documents, Ong cheated CCJ Investments by making it pay $6 million under the impression that it had a loan agreement with Suite Development. It should be noted that the accused has also misappropriated over $33 million held in escrow by the law firm for Allied Technologies, but did not face any charges because of this alleged move.
As of now, there is no evidence which will prove that the CCJ Investments and Suite Development are linked to Allied Technologies.
The court documents stated that on February 18 and 19 the accused had forged the signature of two individuals, James Tan Kwang Yong, the director and sole shareholder of Suite Development as well as Joel Tan Guang Qian, the secretary of Suite Development, to sign eight documents.
These documents include director and shareholder resolutions, an instrument of transfer and a contract between the Suite Development director and CCJ Investments. The documents also include a mortgage relating to three properties in Tanjong Katong.
It was revealed that almost $3.3 million was used to refinance Suite Development's mortgage loan while $2.7 million have been deposited into the client account of Ong's law firm.
Ong was arrested from a Kuala Lumpur hotel with the help of Royal Malaysia Police. He was brought back to Singapore on May 30. During the court hearing, he appeared via video link.
The Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Khoo told the judge that three other clients of JLC Advisors have informed the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) about unauthorised transaction of monies that were held by JLC Advisors.
Ong will be remanded at Central Police Division for another week and he will be back in court on June 20. Meanwhile, CAD will conduct further investigation to trace the misplaced funds.
