ISR Capital shares dive over 80% when trading resumes

Malaysian businessman John Soh Chee Wen is under investigation by the authorities for allegedly manipulating ISR's share price and involving himself in the management of the investment firm's affairs. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - Shares of ISR Capital tanked on Monday morning (March 6) after trading in the counter resumed following court disclosure last week the stock may have been manipulated by the same man who allegedly masterminded the 2013 penny stock crash.

The Singapore Exchange issued issued a "trade with caution" warning on ISR after lifting the trading suspension on the stock following disclosure last Tuesday that Malalsian businessman John Soh Chee Wen is under investigation by the authorities for allegedly manipulating ISR's share price and involving himself in the management of the investment firm's affairs.

Investigators found that some trading accounts linked to Soh were involved in ISR shares skyrocketing 2,800 per cent between May and November last year. Soh was arrested on the morning of Nov 24, and ISR shares crashed 55 per cent in the hours that followed, before the company called for a trading halt that afternoon.

The stock was down 80.3 per cent, or 10.2 Singapore cents, to 2.5 cents as of 10:05am, with a hefty 134 million shares traded, making it the most heavily traded counter.

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