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Singapore wine executive charged with committing £7.5m en primeur fraud

A Singapore wine executive has been charged with stealing S$12.7m (£7.5m) from investors via a sophisticated en primeur scam.

Eldric Ko fled Singapore in May 2011 shortly before the authorities launched an investigation into his investment firm, Premium Liquid Assets.

He spent 13 years on the run, but he was arrested in May and charged with cheating offences after returning to Singapore.

Ko, the former chief executive of Premium Liquid Assets, has now been hit with a further 13 charges.

They include eight counts of conspiracy to cheat investors, three counts of engaging in a conspiracy to commit criminal breach of trust, and four counts of benefiting from criminal conduct.

In a press release, the police said that Premium Liquid Assets had offered to sell investors en primeur wine between February 2007 and June 2011.

The company pledged to store the wine on the investors’ behalf, and it promised to eventually transfer the wines to them.

However, Ko allegedly conspired with another executive, Koo Han Jet, to transfer the funds to an overseas bank account owned by a company called Grand Millesimes.

He then allegedly transferred the money, totalling S$12.7m (£7.5m), to two Singapore bank accounts under his control.

Investors grew uneasy after they were repeatedly told to wait after asking about the status of their wines, and they eventually reported the company to the police.

The authorities estimate that up to 400 investors were duped. Court documents show that one victim was tricked into paying S$52,440 (£31,000) for 36 bottles of wine that never materialised.

Ko’s case was adjourned until 6 September. Those found guilty of cheating can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined, according to The Straits Times.

The publication also reported that breach of criminal trust offences can lead to seven-year jail terms, and those guilty of benefiting from their own criminal conduct can be jailed for up to 10 years and/or fined up to S$500,000 (£296,000).

The police have not yet provided any information about the case against Koo, the alleged co-conspirator.


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