(Nov 26): An ex-accountant accused of running a billion-dollar nickel scam that rocked Singapore’s business community pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to 42 charges including money laundering.

Prosecutors allege that Ng Yu Zhi, 37, raised money for trades that did not exist. Hundreds of clients, many of them high-profile figures in the city-state, put their money into a US$1.1 billion (RM4.91 billion) scheme tied to Ng’s Envy Group, which offered investments in nickel trading and touted impressive average quarterly gains of 15%.

Ng, meanwhile, spent millions to fund an extravagant lifestyle, including a three-story villa in a high-end neighbourhood and a multi-million-dollar Pagani sportscar.

Singapore police have referred to the scam, carried out between 2020 and 2021, as one of the country’s largest ever investment frauds. It’s also the latest in a series of scandals in the financial and commodities-trading hub, which is now eager to restore a reputation for good governance.

Earlier this month, former oil tycoon Lim Oon Kuin, 82, was handed a 17-and-half-year jail sentence for cheating HSBC Holdings plc and instigating forgery. In October, S Iswaran became the first ex-cabinet minister to be jailed in almost half a century, after pleading guilty in charges including obstruction of justice.

The law firms representing Ng are Legal Eagles, Nicholas & Tan Partnership LLP, Nine Yards Chambers LLC, R Ramason & Almenoar.

Ng, who initially faced more than 100 charges, has been held in remand for more than nine months.

A civil trial began on July 30 in Singapore’s High Court.

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