SINGAPORE — A 41-year-old man was charged on Thursday (May 4) with running an investment scam that allegedly collected more than S$3 million from more than 60 investors.

Oommen Mathews, a Singaporean, allegedly promised the investors returns of 20 per cent a year for investments in hydroponics and aquaponics farming between 2015 and 2017, the police said in a press release on Thursday.

Hydroponics involves growing plants without the use of soil, while aquaponics is growing fish and plants in the same environment.

However, two firms of which Mathews was a director and shareholder, Reign Gainers and Capital Nation, had no business activities capable of generating the promised investment returns, the police said.

Mathews allegedly structured some of these investments in the form of bonds and offered them to investors without the requisite prospectus.

A prospectus contains information for investors such as a brief summary of the company's background and financial information.

Mathews also allegedly filed a document with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra), despite knowing it to be false.

He was charged on Thursday with two counts of fraudulent trading, 52 counts of making offers of securities without a prospectus and one count of filing a document with Acra knowing it to be false or misleading.

If found guilty of fraudulent trading, he could be jailed for up to seven years or fined up to S$15,000, or both.

If convicted of offering securities without a prospectus, Mathews could be jailed for up to two years or fined up to S$150,000, or both.

If found guilty of lodging a false or misleading document with Acra, he could be jailed for up to two years or fined up to S$50,000, or both.