“Informatics overstated its pre-tax profit by $5.452 million for its first financial quarter ended June 2003, $8.78 million for the second quarter ended September 2003 and $1.54 million for the third quarter ended December 2003.

Last year, Informatics founder and ex-chairman Wong Tai and his former chief executive Ong Boon Kheng were charged. Charges made against them were:

• Wong and Ong are accused of intending to deceive and face four charges each under the Securities and Futures Act.
• Wong faces three charges over misleading statements made by the listed education services provider when he was chairman.
• Wong faces a fourth charge for allowing Informatics to make a misleading statement in a profit warning issued on April 14, 2004. In that warning, the company said the overstatement of revenue and profit was discovered while closing the books and performing the year-end audit for FY2004, and that directors and senior management were not aware of the overstatement when the unaudited results for the period ended Dec 31, 2003 were announced.

It is unfortunate that justice cannot be made as the much anticipated trial of two former top executives of Informatics, which was scheduled for yesterday, has been postponed to Aug 29. Business Times understands that Informatics founder and former chairman Wong Tai had indicated that he may plead guilty.