SINGAPORE, May 13 — The defence counsel today drilled a witness on E7, a clause related to trading instructions which she highlighted in her conditional statement in the joint trial over the 2013 penny stock crash.
Seventh witness Esther Seet, an executive director of Lim & Tan Securities Pte Ltd (LTS) was crossed examined by second accused Quah Su-Ling’s counsel Philip Fong of Eversheds Harry Elias LLP on the 14th day of the trial here.
E7 was one of the three clauses under the terms and conditions in force during the 2012-2013 highlighted by Seet in her statement.
Fong was given an emphasis on instructions given “on behalf of the client” which LTS allowed without further enquiry as to the accuracy, completeness or genuineness, or the authority or identity of the person giving or purporting to give such instructions and regardless of the circumstances prevailing at the time.
The clause however stated that LTS allowed the instructions to be carried out “in good faith”.
During the cross examination, Seet was given the opportunity to explain further on the clause by High Court Judge Hoo Sheau Peng.
Citing an example, Seet said that “in good faith”, a trading representative (TR) may take an instruction from a wife on behalf of a husband but only for closing a trade position and not for opening a position.
The witness said there were circumstances such as an emergency which she said had happened before where orders were executed by TR without written instructions as “the TR knows the family or knows the circumstances”.
However, counsel Fong could not quite accept the explanation.
Fong: The problem that I have is .. it doesn’t say that in E7... does not cite any examples. Do you agree?
Seet : Yes I agree there is no example in the term.
Fong : Correct. In fact the term “in good faith” is not defined as far as you are aware of.
Seet : My knowledge “in good faith” is self-explanatory.
Fong: But it is not defined in the terms and conditions communicated to the client. Correct?
Seet : No.
Quah and first accused John Soh, a Malaysian businessman, pleaded not guilty to 178 and 189 charges respectively, in relation to the Asiasons, Blumont, and LionGold’s penny stocks crash in 2013.
The trial continues tomorrow. — Bernama
