Raymond Ng goes on trial facing cheating charges, conducts own defence

STRIPE WITNESS

The first witness for the prosecution was Ms How Kai Xin, a legal process specialist for payments company Stripe.

Ng’s company, Candle Consulting, had used Stripe to process payments from customers.

Ng cross-examined Ms How at length, asking her numerous questions about how Stripe works. She said many of the questions were beyond her scope and was unable to answer them.

At about 4pm, Mr Li, one of the prosecutors, intervened, and said it had not even been established that Ms How could speak for Stripe in the capacity Ng was addressing.

At one point, Ng told Ms How she was not there to agree or disagree, but Judge Lim told him she was entitled to do so. Later, Ng accused Ms How of looking at someone in the audience.

When Judge Lim sought to clarify Ms How’s evidence, Ng tried to interject. At one point, the judge told him not to interrupt.

With the judge’s help in rephrasing the questions, Ms How eventually agreed with Ng that a card user’s authorisation of a payment is different from the bank’s final processing of that payment.

The trial continues, with alleged victims lined up to testify for the prosecution once Ms How concludes her evidence.

If convicted of cheating, Ng could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined per charge.