Ng Yu Zhi of US$1.1b alleged nickel trading scam declared bankrupt
Tay Peck Gek
ALLEGED nickel trading fraudster at the centre of a US$1.1 billion scam, Ng Yu Zhi, has been declared a bankrupt.
A bankruptcy order was made against the 35-year-old businessman on Dec 22, 2022, according to the government gazette published on Friday (Jan 13).
The Straits Times earlier reported that a court ruling had in 2022 cleared the way for the liquidators from KPMG to pursue hundreds of millions of dollars allegedly transferred wrongfully into the personal accounts of Ng in a nickel trading scam that has become one of Singapore’s biggest investment frauds.
Ng and three others were sued in the High Court by the liquidators of Envy Global Trading (EGT), Envy Asset Management (EAM) and Envy Management Holdings in a bid to recover S$416.5 million and US$17.7 million from his personal assets.
A KPMG spokesperson confirmed to The Business Times on Friday that its partners, Bob Yap Cheng Ghee, Tay Puay Cheng and Toh Ai Ling, in their capacity as joint and several liquidators of EAM and EGT had filed a bankruptcy application against Ng.
David Chan of Shook Lin & Bok, the liquidators’ lawyer, told The Business Times that the summary judgement obtained to pursue the funds from Ng was the grounds for the petition for his bankruptcy.
Besides the civil litigation, Ng is facing over 100 criminal charges for his alleged involvement in the US$1.1 billion nickel trading scam. His case will next be mentioned on Jan 17.
About 1,000 investors, including business people, lawyers and financiers, sank their money into the scheme, which touted average quarterly gains of 15 per cent.
