Noble penalties deemed ‘ridiculous’ by the man who brought the trading group down
Iceberg Research, the outfit led by Arnaud Vagner which brought down Asia’s largest commodities trader four years ago, has blasted the “ridiculous” penalties dished out last week following extensive investigations into one of Asia’s largest accounting frauds.
Last week Singapore authorities fined Noble $9m with reprimands handed to two of its unnamed directors for their involvement.
The decline and fall of Noble came about from Vagner, an ex-employee turned whistleblower, who almost singlehandedly brought down the multi-billion dollar empire of what used to be Asia’s largest commodities trader.
“The Singapore authorities’ decision has zero financial impact on the main perpetrators,” Vagner wrote in a post on the Iceberg Research site, suggesting that a number of people should have been prosecuted including from auditing firm E&Y.
“Stock exchange regulators are defined by the actions they take against major frauds. Noble’s fraudsters will get away with no consequence in Singapore,” Vagner wrote.
While Vagner had many times compared Noble’s accounting practices to that of Enron, the bust American energy giant, he lambasted the Singapore Exchange’s (SGX) remedial actions.
“It’s widely believed that prosecuting Enron’s management and reinforcing the regulatory environment strengthened capital markets in the US along with their competitive position. The Noble saga was an opportunity for the SGX to redeem itself. But its refusal to prosecute Noble’s fraudsters is the last straw for its already tarnished reputation,” Vagner wrote in his post published yesterday.
Speaking with Splash, Vagner said: “Singapore took seven years to conclude there was something wrong with the commodity contracts, which I explained to them at length in May 2015. The fine is ridiculous compared to the damage. They don’t prosecute any managers. They won’t even publicly name the two directors they timidly warn. Most importantly, the retail investors who lost everything won’t get a penny. In summary, it’s a joke.”
Noble Resources Trading Holdings, which was formed four years ago in the UK as a part of Noble Group’s reorganisation and has since been under new ownership and management, welcomed the conclusion of the investigation last week, keen to put the matter behind it.
“We are looking forward to continuing to work with our suppliers and serve our customers, building on the strong start to 2022,” the company stated.
