No Signboard CEO Lim Yong Sim charged with share price rigging
Lim Yong Sim, the executive chairman and chief executive of restaurant operator No Signboard Holdings, was charged for price rigging offences under the Securities and Futures Act (SFA) on Thursday, the Singapore Police Force said.
If convicted, he may be jailed for up to seven years, or fined up to $250,000, or both.
The charges arose from a joint investigation by white-collar crime busters, the Commercial Affairs Department and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Lim was charged with three counts of Section 197(1)(b) of the SFA for creating a false appearance related to the price of Catalist-listed No Signboard shares.
He had allegedly placed orders for No Signboard shares and traded in the shares using the trading account of Gugong Pte Ltd for the purpose of pushing up or supporting the stock’s prices between June 19 and 29, 2018, as well as between Nov 30, 2018, and Jan 11, 2019.
At the time, he was the director and the majority shareholder of Gugong, No Signboard’s controlling shareholder.
Additionally, on Jan 31, 2019, Lim allegedly placed orders for No Signboard shares and carried out trades using the company’s corporate trading account to push up or support the share price.
No Signboard shares have been suspended from trading since Jan 24, 2022, at the company’s request after it was unable to show that it could continue as a going concern.
The company currently operates two food and beverage outlets in Singapore – Little Sheep Hotpot at Orchard Gateway and nosignboard Sheng Jian at Northpoint City.
All other F&B outlets formerly operated by No Signboard have been closed as the group liquidated its various loss-making and non-core subsidiaries.
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