SINGAPORE – Nelson Loh Ne-Loon, co-founder of Novena Global Healthcare Group (NGHG), had his request for bail denied by the judge on Friday.
Loh, 43, was charged in December 2022 over forgery offences. He allegedly forged financial statements of NGHG in 2019, and used them to obtain bank loans amounting to $18 million.
He appeared in court via video link on Friday and requested that he be released on bail.
“I have been here for 21 days... I have not seen my family and kids for a long time,” he told Senior District Judge Ong Hian Sun.
When the judge rejected his request, Loh said: “Can I at least be moved to Changi Prison Complex medical centre? Then, I will have a Bible to keep myself mentally healthy.”
Loh, who is currently remanded at the Central Police Division, added: “Being here in a single cell is really taxing on me.”
The judge said he is to continue to be remanded at the Central Police Division, to which Loh asked if he could at least speak to his children on the phone.
The judge then asked the prosecution to take note of Loh’s request. He also granted the application for Loh to be further remanded for a week, with permission to take him out to assist in investigations.
Loh and his employee, Michael Wong, left Singapore in early September 2020 and had been wanted by the police for the last two years.
Within days of their departure, the police received a report that signatures of accounting firm Ernst & Young had been forged on some of NGHG’s financial statements.
A warrant of arrest and an Interpol red notice were later issued against both men.
According to Interpol’s website, the notice requests law enforcement units worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or other legal action.
The police had earlier said in a statement: “With the cooperation and assistance of our foreign counterparts in the People’s Republic of China, the two men returned to Singapore on Dec 24, 2022, and were arrested by the Commercial Affairs Department on the same day.”
NGHG was set up by Loh and his cousin Terence Loh. The cousins first made headlines in 2020 over their £280 million (S$452 million) takeover bid for English Premier League club Newcastle United.
Those convicted of committing forgery, intending for the document forged to be used for cheating, can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
