Legal

With nearly $180 million of debt, IPP proposes interim juridical management

IPP’s business and operations were ‘severely impacted’ by MPA’s temporary suspension of bunker craft operator licence, claimed company director.

Published

6 years ago

August 27, 2019

Admin

UPDATE: A spokesperson from Kairos Oil Trading has clarified with Manifold Times the company does not have any accounts receivables with IPP.

Singapore bunker supplier Inter-Pacific Petroleum Pte Ltd (IPP) and its parent company Inter-Pacific Group Pte Ltd (IPG) on Friday (16 August) filed an application for interim judicial management at the High Court of the Republic of Singapore.

An affidavit filed by Zoe Cheung, the current director of IPP and IPG, on Tuesday (20 August) provided more details of developments leading up to the company’s decision to come under interim judicial management.

It noted that IPG originally had two shareholders, namely Zoe Cheung (85%) and Dr Goh Jin Hian (15%); Dr Goh was a director of IPG and IPP until 20 August 2019 when his resignation took effect. An individual of Pek Chong Beng is the current nominee local director in IPG and IPP, in place of Dr Goh.

The document alleged that IPP posted total accounts receivables of USD 21.07 million from 21 trading counterparties to date; notably, the majority at USD 14.73 million, or 69.9%, of the total figure was from Minerva Bunkering Pte Ltd.

Inter-company receivables of USD 248.36 million from five related firms of Chuang Xin (China) Group Limited, Inter-Pacific Group Pte Ltd, Inter-Pacific Petroleum Trading Pte Ltd, Pacific Energy 8 Pte Ltd and Pacific Ship Management Pte Ltd were declared.

Chuang Xin (China) Group Limited, currently insolvent, undertook USD 237.36 million, or 95%, of the total inter-company receivables.

Significant and verifiable liabilities totalling USD 181.63 million consisted of trade financing from SocGen with an outstanding amount of USD 96.3 million, MayBank banking facilities of USD 69.8 million, and account payables of USD 2.43 million to 10 players; ~~the highest outstanding amount stands at around USD 1.16 million, or 48%, which is owed to Kairos Oil Trading Pte Ltd.~~

The purported affidavit highlighted IPP, “has been struggling to put its books and accounts into good order. However, as the business was still able to maintain its cashflow to meet its mature liabilities, the company was able to continue its trading flow.”

“However, on 14 June 2019, the Maritime Port Authority (MPA) issued a Port Marine Circular No. 14 of 2019 stating that arising (sic) from an enforcement check on a bunker tanker operated by IPP, the MPA had temporarily suspended IPP’s bunker craft operator license with effect from 27 June 2019 until further notice.

“The reason for the suspension is related to an incident involving an outsourced employee, and IPP is presently investigating the incident and cooperating with MPA in this regard to provide further information as relevant. However, the immediate effect of the suspension was to prevent IPP from operating as a bunker craft operator in Singapore.

“As a result of the suspension of the license, IPP’s business and operations were severely impacted.”

IPP noted the development caused the firm to incur “very significant expense and effort”, together with disruption to its business, as it had to arrange for other operators to take on contracts due to the license suspension.

The suspension also “significantly impacted counterparties’ confidence” in IPP as players which previously offered credit started asking for cash terms, “such that there is insufficient cash to sustain operations.”

Moving forward, the directors of IPG and IPP said they have received a letter from a confidential investor which is a publicly-listed company in Hong Kong who may, amongst other options, take on short term six-month charters of IPG’s vessels to allow for cash generation while providing other solutions pending the outcome of IPP’s licensing issues at Singapore.

Photo credit: Manifold Times
Published: 27 August, 2019

Incident

India: MSC faces USD 1.1 billion lawsuit from Kerala state over “MSC ELSA 3” bunker spill

Reports noted approximately 84 mt of diesel and 376 mt of fuel oil on board the stricken vessel when it sank carrying 643 boxes.

Published

4 hours ago

July 9, 2025

Admin

Swiss-based Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) is reportedly facing a USD 1.1 billion lawsuit from India’s southern state of Kerala which is seeking compensation over marine fuel leaked from MSC ELSA 3 into the Arabian Sea in May.

The High Court of Kerala on Monday (7 July) ordered authorities to seize containership MSC Akiteta II which was anchored in Vizhinjam Port until securities for the claim amount are deposited.

The 1,700 TEU capacity containership MSC ELSA 3 was sailing from Vizhinjam to Kochi when failure in its ballast management system caused it to sink on 25 May about 13 nautical miles off the coast of Kerala.

Reports noted approximately 84 metric tonnes (mt) of diesel and 376 mt of fuel oil on board the stricken vessel when it sank carrying 643 boxes.

Photo credit: Indian Ministry of Defence
Published: 9 July 2025

Legal

Shell MGO bunker heist: Co-conspirator receives 302-month jail sentence

Abdul Latif Bin Ibrahim and accomplices siphoned over 150,000 mt of gasoil worth at least USD 74 million from Shell Pukom between August 2014 and January 2018.

Published

23 hours ago

July 8, 2025

Admin

A Judge at the High Court of the Republic of Singapore on Monday (7 July) sentenced Abdul Latif Bin Ibrahim, a former Process Technician working at Shell Pulau Bukom, to a jail term of 25 years and two months (302 months), reported the Straits Times.

Latif pleaded guilty to a total of 30 charges – 20 charges under criminal breach of trust and 10 charges under money laundering – while consenting to have 34 remaining charges taken into consideration for the purposes of sentencing.

The 67-year-old male is due to start his prison sentence on 30 September 2025.

Court documents obtained by Singapore bunkering publication Manifold Times showed Latif, with the help of other rogue Shell employees, siphoning over 150,000 metric tonnes (mt) of gasoil valued at least USD 74,469,000 (approximately SGD 100,601,000) from Shell Eastern Petroleum Pte Ltd’s (Shell) Pulau Bukom facility between August 2014 and January 2018.

Latif was arrested on 7 January 2018.

Investigations found him receiving a total of at least about SGD 7 million in criminal benefits between 2014 to 2018, of which he spent these monies on luxury watches, foreign property, cars, amongst others.

Authorities have seized assets worth approximately SGD 7.67 million from Latif; amongst recovered are:

One Rolex Daytona (leather strap) watch worth SGD 28,800
One Frank Muller watch worth SGD 7,000
One Frank Muller watch worth SGD 8,000
03 packs of 1,000 pcs of SGD 1,000 notes worth SGD 3 million
991 pcs of 1,000 pcs of SGD 1,000 notes worth SGD 991,000
400 pcs of 1,000 pcs of SGD 1,000 notes worth SGD 400,000
Sales balance proceeds of BMW M5 worth SGD 174,300
Sales balance proceeds of Mercedes Benz E43 worth SGD 276,200
Sales balance proceeds of Aston Martin DBS Coupe worth SGD 338,200
Sale proceeds from property at St Martin’s Dr worth SGD 670,000
Sale proceeds from property at Suites@Braddell worth SGD 557,200

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

Photo credit: Manifold Times
Published: 8 July 2025

Vessel Arrest

Malaysia: MMEA detains tanker transporting 62,000 litres of diesel off Port Klang

Vessel was operated by a 43-year-old Indonesia captain with a crew of six Indonesians; captain failed to present any documents permitting the transport of the diesel which is a controlled item.

Published

2 days ago

July 7, 2025

Admin

Malaysia: MMEA detains tanker carrying 62,000 litres of diesel off Port Klang

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) on Friday (4 July) said it detained a tanker carrying 62,000 litres of diesel without valid documentation off Port Klang on 3 July.

Selangor MMEA director Maritime Captain Abdul Muhaimin Muhammad Salleh said the tanker was detained at about one nautical mile west of Tanjung Harapan at 1.30pm during a routine patrol in Selangor waters.

Initial checks showed the tanker was operated by a 43-year-old Indonesia captain with a crew of six, aged between 21 and 51, who were also Indonesians. All of them had complete identification documents.

However, the captain failed to present any documents permitting the transport of the diesel cargo which is a controlled item.

With that, a detention order was issued for the tanker. Both the captain and second engineer were arrested and were brought to the marine police jetty in Pulau Indah for further investigation.

The case will be investigated under the Control of Supplies Act 1961 for failure to provide a permit or special licences from the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry to possess, store or transport controlled goods.

Photo credit: Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency
Published: 7 July, 2025

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Manifold Times

With nearly $180 million of debt, IPP proposes interim juridical management

Legal

With nearly $180 million of debt, IPP proposes interim juridical management

Incident

India: MSC faces USD 1.1 billion lawsuit from Kerala state over “MSC ELSA 3” bunker spill

Legal

Shell MGO bunker heist: Co-conspirator receives 302-month jail sentence

Vessel Arrest

Malaysia: MMEA detains tanker transporting 62,000 litres of diesel off Port Klang

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