Legal

Singapore: Probe exposes Hong Kong entities issuing ‘false invoices’ to Vermont over purported bunker sales

Dynamic Asset Investments Limited and Goldsland Holdings Co Ltd helped Vermont UM Bunkering maintain a “Cash Float” of about SGD 100,000 to facilitate “buyback” bunker transactions at Singapore port.

Published

2 years ago

July 26, 2022

Admin

Hong Kong-incorporated entities were allegedly issuing former bunker supplier Vermont UM Bunkering Pte Ltd false invoices for purported marine fuel oil sales, according to a court document obtained by Singapore bunkering publication Manifold Times.

The report noted Vermont needing to maintain a “Cash Float” of about SGD 100,000 to facilitate “buyback” bunker transactions; the monies would be withdrawn from Vermont’s bank account and recorded as a loan to company Director Poh Fu Teck (Mr Poh).

Dynamic Asset Investments Limited

Mr Poh would use Dynamic Asset Investments Limited, a Hong Kong-registered company controlled by himself, to send Vermont invoices for payment of marine fuel oil from Dynamic Asset.

“The false invoices were created to disguise the excess marine fuel oil in Vermont’s inventory as being legitimately purchased from Dynamic Asset, when they were in fact illegally obtained through the ‘buyback’ transactions,” the report explained.

Once Vermont paid Dynamic Asset, the latter would then transfer the sum to Mr Poh’s personal bank account and he would use these monies to repay the purported personal loan from Vermont – when in reality, there was no sale of fuel oil from Dynamic Asset to Vermont.

Goldsland Holdings Co Ltd

From 2014 onwards, the false invoices allegedly showing Vermont purchasing the illegally bought back fuel oil through “buyback” bunker transactions were also issued from Goldsland Holdings Co Ltd, a Hong Kong-incorporated holding company engaged in the businesses of bunker supply, biodiesel, overseas mining, bulk trade and property leasing.

“Goldsland Holdings would issue Vermont false invoices for the purported sale of marine fuel oil. In turn, Dynamic Asset would issue a corresponding false invoice to Goldsland Holdings for the sale of the same or similar quantity of marine fuel oil,” stated the report.

“Vermont would pay Goldsland Holdings pursuant to the false Goldsland Holdings invoices, and Goldsland Holdings would then pay Dynamic Asset pursuant to the corresponding false Dynamic Asset invoices.

“The monies from the fictitious sales would eventually be transferred from Dynamic Asset to Poh. Poh would then use the sum to repay the purported personal loan from Vermont.”

Charges faced by Mr Poh

Mr Poh currently faces a total of 10 charges at the State Courts of Singapore, according to the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC); the charges are as follows:

Nine charges are under Section 47(1)(a) and punishable under s 47(6) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act (CDSA) for concealing benefits of criminal conduct, namely the additional fuel obtained from the illegal buyback transactions;
One charge is under Section 420 read with s 109 of the Penal Code and read with s 124(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code for conspiring with other co-accused persons to cheat buyers of marine fuel oil on not less than 149 occasions.

Background

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore on 28 April 2016 revoked the bunker supplier and bunker craft operator licences of Vermont due to discrepancies and wrongful declarations in the records kept on board their bunker tankers.

Mr Poh and Koh Seng Lee (Mr Koh), another Director of Vermont, were later charged by Singapore’s Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) in November 2017 for cheating and criminal breach of trust offences under the Penal Code.

The duo are currently defending legal claims set out by Goldsland Holdings and Hong Kong Sin Hua Development Co., Ltd.

Vermont was incorporated in Singapore in October 2009, and is owned by Hong Kong based Vermont Groups Limited (VGL) (51%), Mr Poh (24.5%) and Mr Koh (24.5%); VGL is in turn 70% owned by Sin Hua, which is 99.99% owned by Goldsland.

Both Sin Hua and Goldsland are under the management of Guangdong Guangxin Holdings Group Ltd (Guangdong Guangxin), part of the Guangxin group of companies (Guangxin Group) which comprised of state-owned enterprises operated by the Guangdong provincial government.

Photo credit: Simon Zhu on Unsplash
Published: 26 July, 2022

Legal

Singapore: Charges against Founder of Zenrock abated following his death

Xie Chun and his former Operations Executive, Zhang Taiming, were charged in 2022 for offences relating to cheating, criminal breach of trust, and forgery involving more than USD105 million.

Published

3 days ago

January 16, 2025

Admin

Singapore’s court proceedings over multiple charges against the founder of Singapore-based oil trading firm Zenrock Commodities have come to an end following his death, The Straits Times reported on Wednesday (15 January).

The charges against Xie Chun, who was accused of several offences including cheating, were abated after a pre-trial conference on 9 January.

An Attorney-General’s Chambers spokesperson told The Straits Times that the criminal charges against were abated following an application of the defence after Xie Chun passed away on 3 January.

No details of his death were revealed by the spokesperson.

In 2020, HSBC accused Zenrock of dishonestly obtaining multiple sources of financing for crude cargoes.

HSBC filed a court application on 4 May to place Zenrock under judicial management, a form of debt restructuring, to recover funds it said it is owed.

In 2022, Singapore Police Force charged Xie, who was also the former Director of Zenrock, and his former Operations Executive, Zhang Taiming, for offences relating to cheating, criminal breach of trust, and forgery involving more than USD105 million.

Investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department of the SPF revealed that sometime between February and March 2020, Xie and Zhang Taiming had allegedly used forged documents to cheat the Bank of China Limited (Singapore) of a sum of USD54 million.

Both Xie and Zhang Taiming are also alleged to have committed criminal breach of trust by dishonestly re-assigning to the Bank of China Limited (Singapore) the proceeds from a sale of cargo oil that it had charged to Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (Singapore) and cheated Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank of a sum of USD17 million.

A complete coverage of the events leading to the liquidation of ZenRock Commodities Trading has been arranged by Singapore bunker publication Manifold Times (in descending date order) below:

Photo credit: Ekaterina Bolovtsova
Published: 16 January, 2024

Business

Lloyd’s List Intelligence acquires Infospectrum to drive maritime risk intelligence solutions

Combined business will enable LLI to build solutions that deliver actionable insights and help maritime customers successfully navigate key use cases associated with compliance, risk management and operations.

Published

5 days ago

January 14, 2025

Admin

Lloyd’s List Intelligence acquires Infospectrum to drive maritime risk intelligence solutions

Maritime data, insights and analytics provider Lloyd’s List Intelligence (LLI) on Tuesday (14 January) announced the acquisition of Infospectrum, an independent provider of counterparty risk appraisal reports & data, due diligence research and KYC intelligence.

The acquisition expands LLI’s ability to deliver analysis and risk management intelligence solutions.

The integration of Infospectrum’s comprehensive counterparty risk appraisal, due diligence and KYC intelligence capabilities and data, will enable the combined business to provide customers with more accurate, reliable, and timely risk based decision-making solutions.

With the maritime sector facing increasing complexity from global sanctions, compliance, safety, geo-political and legal considerations, the combination will enable LLI to build solutions that deliver actionable insights and help customers successfully navigate key use cases associated with compliance, risk management and operations.

“The acquisition of Infospectrum is an important milestone for Lloyd’s List Intelligence,” said Michael Dell, CEO, Lloyd’s List Intelligence.

“This acquisition is a significant step forward in our mission to provide the most comprehensive and insightful risk intelligence solutions that support the global maritime industry. By combining our respective strengths, we will deliver stronger capabilities to our customers and enhance our ability to act as a provider of mission critical data, insights and analytics for the maritime sector as a whole.”

“We are excited to join forces with Lloyd’s List Intelligence,” said Panos Panousis, Managing Director, Infospectrum.

“This combination will unlock significant opportunities for both companies and provide the maritime ecosystem with access to a broader range of data, analytics, and intelligence. We are confident that together we will accelerate innovation and deliver exceptional solutions to the maritime industry.”

Photo credit: Lloyd’s List Intelligence
Published: 14 January, 2025

Legal

Shell MGO bunker heist: Bunker clerk gets jail time for helping Sentek acquire misappropriated fuel

Wong Wai Meng was sentenced to seven years, four months and two weeks’ jail on 10 January for helping the company acquire more than 28,000 mt of the misappropriated fuel worth USD 13.58 million.

Published

6 days ago

January 13, 2025

Admin

A bunker clerk, who was previously employed by Sentek Marine & Trading (Sentek), was sentenced to seven years, four months and two weeks’ jail for helping the company acquire more than 28,000 metric tonnes (mt) of the misappropriated fuel worth USD 13.58 million (SGD 18.26 million), The Straits Times reported on Friday (10 January).

Wong Wai Meng, was working for Singapore-based firm Sentek at the time of the offences.

Wong, who received more than USD 286,000 from the company for his assistance, pleaded guilty in November 2024 to 12 counts of intentionally helping the company acquire the misappropriated fuel.

He committed the offences over 46 occasions between August 2014 and December 2017.

Wong is among the three bunker clerks previously employed by Sentek, who were charged for offences under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act (CDSA) and the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).

Another bunker clerk among the three charged, Wong Kuin Wah, 61, was sentenced to seven years and six months’ jail on 18 November for his role in misappropriating more than 27,000 tonnes of gas oil worth around USD 12.8 million (SGD 17.2 million).

The third individual who was charged, Boo Pu Wen, reportedly passed away in July 2023 and had his charges abated following his death, meaning Boo’s court proceedings over his 19 charges at the time came to an end.

Former Shell employees, who were key members of a group who dishonestly misappropriated fuel from Shell Pulau Bukom, were sentenced to jail in court earlier.

Earlier coverage of developments by Manifold Times regarding the Shell MGO bunker heist can be found below:

Photo credit: Katrin Bolovtsova
Published: 13 January, 2025

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Singapore: Probe exposes Hong Kong entities issuing ‘false invoices’ to Vermont over purported bunker sales

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Singapore: Probe exposes Hong Kong entities issuing ‘false invoices’ to Vermont over purported bunker sales

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