DAVID Yong, chief executive of Evergreen Group Holdings, was on Thursday (Aug 15) slapped with a new charge under Section 477A of the Penal Code, related to falsification of papers that inflated the profit of an entity under the group.
Yong, also known as Yong Khung Lin, is alleged to have abetted an individual called Thung Sai Fun to falsify several line items in the financial statements of Evergreen GH, formerly known as Evergreen Assets Management, between October 2022 and February 2023.
Evergreen GH is one of the entities under Evergreen Group Holdings.
The statement was for the financial year ended March 2022. This resulted in the entity reporting a profit before tax of nearly S$8 million, the charge sheet stated. For this charge, Yong could face a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both. This brings the number of charges faced by the 37-year-old to four.
In court, Yong was granted bail by District Judge Brenda Tan, who accepted the prosecution’s recommendations that bail be set at S$1 million with one surety, or S$500,000 with two sureties. His bail also comes with conditions such as a curfew between 10 pm and 6 am, reporting to the investigating officer every Monday, and electronic tagging. His bailor, who was present in court, is his father, Yong Ing Fatt, group adviser to Evergreen Group Holdings.
His counsel, Sunil Sudheesan of Quahe Woo & Palmer, argued for a smaller bail quantum, stating that Yong’s charges were not directed at particular victims and that the alleged gain was a much smaller amount. He also noted that Yong had already surrendered a passport from Cambodia to the nation’s authorities and renounced his Cambodian citizenship, and was therefore unlikely to be a flight risk.
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In response, Deputy Public Prosecutor Theong Li Han said investigations were ongoing and the funds that have been accounted for are a small amount, with the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) looking into a “substantial amount”.
According to the investigating officer’s affidavit, Evergreen Group Holdings was found to have been raising funds through the issuance of notes that promised an annual interest of 10 per cent, with a tenor of up to 12 months. The issued notes had a collective value of at least S$63 million, showed the affidavit, which was read in court.
Funds raised through the promissory notes would be loaned to third-party businesses, which would be charged by Evergreen Group Holdings to generate the 10 per cent yearly return for the noteholders.
The loan agreements seized from the company’s premises showed that the total amount of third-party loans outstanding as at Aug 1 was around S$2.4 million. Corporate bank accounts belonging to Evergreen Group Holdings also contained S$7.8 million.
The investigating officer therefore noted that Yong, as the CEO, would potentially be able to access and use these unaccounted funds.
Theong added that the authorities were still checking with Cambodian officials that Yong had indeed surrendered his Cambodian passport.
In the event the passport has been surrendered, the prosecution has no objection to a future bail review, she said.
Yong was arrested on Aug 1 and remanded at the Central Police Division. He appeared in court via a video link.
Other charges
In the previous charges, Yong, who was featured in the Netflix series Super Rich in Korea, is accused of abetting an employee, Jolene Low Mong Han, to falsify papers belonging to Evergreen GH, which used to be known as Evergreen Assets Management.
Charge sheets indicate that on Dec 16, 2021, Yong had allegedly instigated Low to forge three tax invoices from Evergreen Assets Management for the purported sale of furniture to three separate entities.
One invoice was dated May 13, 2021, made out to Evergreen Venture Capital. The second was dated Oct 22, 2021, for sales of furniture and interior design services to Tay Ai Chern Pearlrie. The third tax invoice, dated Sept 1, 2021, was for purported bulk sales of household fittings and appliances to Roy Teo.
The police said on Aug 3 that the CAD was investigating the business activities of Evergreen Group Holdings for alleged fraud. It noted that Evergreen Group Holdings includes Evergreen Grp Holdings, Evergreen GH, Everventures, and other companies.
Yong rose to prominence after appearing in the cast of Super Rich in Korea, alongside personalities such as Iraq-born YouTuber and influencer Noor Naim.
Evergreen Group Holdings is also a co-organiser of the upcoming Waterbomb Singapore music festival featuring various Korean pop artists.
Yong was initially slated to appear in a festival event on the first day, Aug 24, but his name has been removed from the line-up.
He will be in court for a pre-trial conference on Sep 27.
