Venture capitalist admits he was 'sold' on story told by alleged fraudster

Well-known venture capitalist Finian Tan told the High Court on April 4 that he had always avoided being cheated, but was "sold" on the story that alleged fraudster Ng Yu Zhi had told him for several months.

- Selina Lum

When the Commercial Affairs Department started looking into Ng's nickel-trading business, Dr Tan was thinking of ways to help Ng solve his problem with the authorities, believing that it was just a misunderstanding.

Dr Tan said he then tried, but could not get satisfactory answers from Ng. After gathering information from other sources, he realised it was more than a misunderstanding. "There was a serious stench of some fraud," he said.

Dr Tan, the founder and chairman of Vickers Venture Partners, was on the stand for the second day in the ongoing trial of Ng, 37, who is accused of masterminding a nickel-trading scam that attracted $1.45 billion from hundreds of investors from 2016 to 2021.

Ng is accused of cheating Dr Tan by getting him to deliver US$19.2 million (S$25.7 million) between October 2020 and January 2021 to Ng's company Envy Global Trading (EGT).

He allegedly did so by deceiving Dr Tan into believing that the company was buying nickel at a discount and selling the metal for a profit.

The bulk of the sum came from Dr Tan: US$14 million was from holding company Vickers Financial Group, of which he is the majority shareholder, and another US$1.5 million was his personal money.