PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Advisory Services, interim judicial managers of financially troubled Hin Leong Trading (HLT), have pronounced the company has no likelihood of restructuring independently as investigations have uncovered rampant practice of alleged fraud on a “massive scale” to conceal debts over the past decade, reported The Business Times.
PwC submitted a report to the Singapore High Court on Monday (22 June) on HLT’s current financial state and noted that in its 2019 financial report, HLT had overstated USD 2.23 billion in accounts receivables that are unlikely to be salvaged and another USD 0.8 billion in inventory shortages.
PwC stated HLT’s actual assets amounted to about USD 257 million but owed creditors USD 3.5 billion.
“The overstatement existed to conceal significant losses that the company had accumulated over the years,” explained PwC in its report.
PwC also uncovered HLT’s officers fraudulently created dubious transactions in order to mislead banks on the financial health of the company to obtain financing from banks.
Such schemes reportedly include “the use of forged documents, non-existent inventory, or the sale of the same inventory to multiple parties”.
In many instances, the transactions did not even appear to bring HLT any commercial gain, suggesting that the main goal of HLT was to remain liquid in order to appear financially viable to creditors.
More specifically, PwC’s report reads that HLT “engaged in many bilateral or multi-party transactions, where it would buy and sell the same cargo on the same date, or within a short interval, at a loss”, according to The Straits Times.
“These transactions were clearly entered into purely for the sake of obtaining financing and liquidity, as there was no other evident commercial benefit. By structuring its deals in this way, the company could obtain sale proceeds in advance before having to make payment under such letters of credit.”
PwC reportedly diagnosed HLT has no chance to restructure without the owners committing their own assets to turn the ship around as the company would have trouble raising any funds independently.
PwC also suggested HLT be integrated with other assets owned by the Lim Family under Ocean Tankers Pte Ltd and Universal Terminal to leverage the company’s value as its operations are interdependent on these companies.
Photo credit: Stevepb
Published: 24 June, 2020
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, MOL Tech-Trade, Tokai University and Akishima Laboratories will research application of aerospace engineering technologies on wind-powered propulsion for vessels.
Subsidiary Toyotsu Energy Corporation supplied marine biodiesel fuel (biofuel) using ship-to-ship bunkering for a car carrier operated by Toyofuji Shipping on 26 July and 3 August.
Course designed for Cargo Officers and Bunker Surveyors operating within the Singapore marine fuels industry; SS648:2019 hardcopies will be given to each trainee.
Zhoushan is becoming the key port for bunker-only calls in China, where they plan to sell 7 million tons of bonded fuel via 11 suppliers in 2020, reads report.
B50 biofuel blend is derived from waste oil feedstock and consists of 50% Marine Gas Oil (MGO) and 50 % Very Low Sulfur Fuel Oil (VLSFO - biofuel).
As a first step, 10% of the company’s energy supplies will include alternative fuels; this is in addition to its plan to reduce 40% of CO2 emissions by 2030.
Current ISO 8217 bunker fuel standard not comprehensive enough for biofuels; National Mirror Committee working with local players to develop more comprehensive biofuels standard for Singapore, says Capt. Rahul.
‘There are some important differences between VLSFO and biofuels, and as a result, parties should consider whether additional changes should be made to biofuel bunker contracts,’ says Paul Collier.
Quek Rong Hong first joined Shell sometime in 2005 and had held the position of Blending Specialist from November 2017. At the time of arrest, his monthly basic salary was about SGD 4,300, showed documents.
Glencore previously commenced Singapore International Arbitration Centre Emergency Applications against Straits Pinnacle but those applications were dismissed, according to documents obtained by Manifold Times.
Captain Segar, MPA Assistant Chief Executive, Operations, to be also joining IBIA for the game where proceeds will be channelled into an IBIA Bursary Fund for supporting students to obtain a maritime studies degree.
‘Consort Bunkers will be operating the youngest bunkering fleet in Singapore after complete delivery of the ‘K’ series vessels by late-2023,’ Mr SK Yeo, Founder of Consort Bunkers, tells Manifold Times.
