A hearing focusing on the alleged criminal acts of two previous employees of the defunct bunkering firm Coastal Oil Singapore Pte Ltd was held at the Singapore State Courts on Friday (12 June), reported The Straits Times.
Ong Ah Huat, the company’s former chief finance officer, and Huang Peishi, the former treasury manager, were facing charges for being part of a conspiracy to commit forgery for the purpose of cheating.
Ong faced a total of 58 charges where 44 were forgery related, while Huang faced 63 forgery charges.
The alleged offense by the duo caused Coastal Oil Singapore to take USD 9 million in losses, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Thiagesh Sukumaran.
He claimed Ong and Huang created fake sales contracts in order to obtain financing from eight banks, including the Hong Kong branches of China Merchants Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, between July 2017 and December 2018.
The court heard Ong and Huang’s operations included Tan Sing Hwa and Carol Zong of Coastal Oil Singapore; however, details of Tan and Zong were not reveal during the hearing.
Working together, the four suspects produced fake documents to obtain credit totalling more than $13 million from China Merchants Bank from July 2017 to support sales of marine fuel oil to Sinfeng Marine Services.
The similar method was also allegedly employed by the four suspects to cheat money from other banks.
Ong was offered bail of $100,000, while Huang’s bail was $50,000.
Manifold Times earlier reported Hong Kong-listed COSCO SHIPPING International (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd stating its indirect wholly-owned bunkering subsidiary Sinfeng suspecting fraud to be involved in the liquidation of Coastal Oil Singapore during December 2018.
It is believed Coastal Oil Singapore owes approximately US $357 million to 79 firms. Out of the total US $357 million, banks were the hardest hit taking up about US $354 million, or 99.1%, of total credit owed.
A complete coverage of the events leading to the current development has been arranged by Singapore bunker publication Manifold Times (in descending date order) below:
Related: Coastal Oil hearings progress, court grants liquidators access to Sinfeng documents
Related: China Merchants Bank legal suit with Sinfeng over alleged $13 million debt progresses
Related: Fraud suspected in Coastal Oil Singapore case, says COSCO
Related: Coastal Logistics owned “Atalanta”, “Babylon” to undergo auction
Related: Singapore: Bunker tanker “Coastal Mercury” arrested
Related: Heng Tong Fuels & Shipping in court over DBS Bank bunker tanker loan
Related: Coastal Logistics owned MR tanker “Babylon” arrested
Related: Fraud suspected in Coastal Oil Singapore case, says COSCO
Related: Coastal Oil Singapore: Creditor list surfaces in bunker market
Related: Singapore: Bunker tanker “Coastal Neptune” arrested
Related: Coastal Oil Singapore creditors meeting scheduled on 10 Jan
Related: Coastal Oil Singapore in US $380 million debt to at least 10 banks
Related: Singapore: Coastal Logistics owned MR tanker “Atalanta” arrested
Related: Heng Tong Fuels & Shipping, Coastal Logistics tankers enter S&P market
Related: Coastal Oil Singapore to hold creditors meeting on 28 Dec
Related: Breaking news: Coastal Oil Singapore under liquidation
Photo credit: Manifold Times
Published: 12 June, 2020
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