SINGAPORE : While the man at the centre of it all is behind bars
serving his lengthy 42-year sentence, his erstwhile employer will
be slugging it out in court in the coming months.
Asia Pacific Breweries (Singapore) is readying its defence against
the first lawsuit to be filed in the wake of the $117-million fraud
committed by its former finance manager Chia Teck Leng.
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On Tuesday, European bank Bayerische Hypo-und Vereinsbank AG (HVB)
filed a claim in the High Court to recover US$30 million ($51
million) that it lost in Singapore's largest case of commercial
fraud.
The court case is still some time away, but already the two parties
have crossed swords in public.
"HVB has a curious way of conducting legal proceedings. Instead of
serving the Court papers on the other party, it has decided to
announce its proceedings even before notifying us that it has
commenced action," said APB company secretary Anthony Cheong in a
media release.
"Instead of allowing the Court to decide the case on its merits,
HVB appears anxious to make its case through the media."
Earlier in the day, the bank had sent a release to the media
detailing its claim against the local brewer. HVB said that APB had
appointed Chia, "with a history of gambling and more than $1
million in gambling debt", to the most senior position of financial
responsibility.
"APB appears to have failed to detect and prevent numerous acts of
fraud committed over more than four years by Chia in his capacity
as finance manager, including acts of fraud against APB itself,"
the release added.
In response, APB denied that it knew of Chia's gambling history
when they employed him and said it would deal with various other
allegations made in HVB's press release at the appropriate time in
court.
Said Mr Cheong: "It appears that the media statement is nothing
more than an attempt by HVB to deflect attention from lapses in its
own internal controls. It is HVB that has failed to detect and
prevent acts of fraud by Chia. This will become apparent at the
trial."
The brouhaha over Chia comes more than five months after he was
found guilty of six charges of forgery and eight charges of
cheating in a scam that involved four banks: HVB, Fuji Bank, Sakura
Bank and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken.
Chia had faked documents and forged his bosses' signatures to get
the banks to extend credit purportedly for the company but which
went into accounts he created for himself. He then used the money
for his high-rolling habits at casinos around the world.
HVB is the biggest creditor among the four banks. Shortly after
Chia was sentenced, it took legal action to gain access to APB
documents, "which were, in the main, the Pricewater-houseCoopers
investigative report ordered by APB last September", HVB managing
director Peter Vassiliou told Today.
The report, which noted that APB had not lost any money, gave
details of the brewer's internal controls and processes.
Although the application was initially successful, an appeal by APB
reversed the decision last month.
"It is interesting that HVB has now sued without the benefit of
those documents which they said they needed to assess their claims
against APB," said Mr Cheong yesterday.
But Mr Vassiliou, who is also HVB's head of risk management in
Asia, said the documents would be produced during the course of
normal proceedings and was confident that his bank had a good
case.
"APB is bound by the terms of the HVB Loan Agreement because it was
entered into by Chia in his capacity as finance manager acting on
behalf of APB," he said.
Mr Vassiliou, who told the news wires that Singapore's reputation
as a safe financial hub for international investors would be
"tarnished" if APB did not return the money Chia stole, disagreed
that the bank was trying to sway the case its way.
"Even the judge in Chia's criminal case said that it had damaged
Singapore's reputation as an honest and efficient hub," he
said.
He added that the bank would pursue all legal avenues to recover
the money, both as a matter of principle and because of the huge
amount involved.
HVB is represented by Wong Partnership, while APB's lawyers are
Senior Counsel Davinder Singh and Hri Kumar of Drew & Napier,
whom it has instructed to "vigorously defend the claim". -
TODAY
Crazy and very funny case