Ex-US ambassador quits Singapore firm linked to Newcastle United bid and doctored Obama pics

Kirk Wagar resigned from Axington, controlled by Terence Loh, Nelson Loh and Evangeline Shen, who are in talks to buy the Premier League soccer club

Their Bellagraph Nova Group admitted to doctoring photos of former US president Barack Obama in marketing material

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Published: 6:16pm, 26 Aug 2020Updated: 7:01pm, 26 Aug 2020

The former US ambassador to Singapore said he had resigned from the board of a firm in the city state linked to a group bidding for English soccer club Newcastle United, citing “recent revelations” about the group.

Kirk Wagar said he had quit the board of Axington, a firm listed on the Singapore stock exchange’s junior bourse. Singaporean businessmen and cousins Terence Loh and Nelson Loh are controlling shareholders in the firm and the chairman is Chinese jewellery merchant Evangeline Shen.

The Lohs and Shen are the sole shareholders and directors of newly founded Bellagraph Nova Group (BN Group), which has described itself as a “conglomerate” with turnover last year of $12 billion (US$8.7 billion) that is in advanced talks to buy Newcastle.

Reuters reported on Saturday that the Singapore-registered BN Group had admitted to doctoring photos of former US president Barack Obama in its marketing material.

BN Group also said some of the information in the marketing material was released prematurely or contained errors after Reuters found inconsistencies when speaking to firms and people BN Group says it is involved with.

Its surprise announcement of a Newcastle bid adds to years of speculation over the future of the club, which has been the subject of several fruitless takeover bids, including a US$390 million Saudi-backed deal that collapsed earlier this month.