SINGAPORE: A director of a company who was given funds to finance an order gambled away most of that money instead.
Hendra Lim Yew Keng, 51, ended up losing much more than the amount he had siphoned from his business associate.
Lim, a Singaporean, was sentenced to two years and 10 months’ jail on Wednesday (Feb 19) after he pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust.
Two charges under the Companies Act were taken into consideration for his sentence. These were related to how he diverted customers from his original company to a new one he had set up.
Lim set up Bavarian Motors, a company which exported and sold automotive lubricants, with two friends in January 2015. He held the position of managing director with 40 per cent of the company’s shares.
In 2016, Bavarian Motors was bought by another company, Xerone Solutions, which then owned 100 per cent of the company.
Lim was offered and took up a 25 per cent shareholding in Xerone Solutions. He remained a managing director of Bavarian Motors and managed its sales and operations.
However, concerned that his shareholding in Xerone Solutions would be diluted, Lim set up another company, Exlube, in September 2016. This firm was also in the business of automotive lubricants.
He intended for this firm to be a middleman between new customers and Bavarian Motors, so that Exlube could purchase from Bavarian Motors and supply to customers, thus earning an additional profit margin.
Lim asked his friend to act as director of Exlube, even though he was the only person running it. From Jan 1, 2017, Lim was the sole director of Exlube and its sole shareholder.
Between late 2016 and early 2017, Lim began to gamble heavily and lost money. He diverted existing customers of Bavarian Motors to purchase products from Exlube instead so that he could obtain money to fund his gambling habit.
He did not reveal his involvement in Exlube to Bavarian Motors.
EMBEZZLED FUNDS FROM BUSINESS ASSOCIATE
Lim siphoned money from a business associate to fund his gambling habit.
This business associate, Mr Ng Zu Sheng, was the director of a company that imported and exported vehicle parts.
Mr Ng had known Lim since 2012, and his company was a customer of Lim’s.
In around April 2017, Lim received a large order from a customer in China for petroleum products. At this point, however, Exlube only had S$6.05 (US$4.50 currently) in its account and did not have the funds needed to fulfil the order.
Lim approached Mr Ng to finance S$504,468 towards this order, and the latter agreed. Mr Ng was promised the funds back, together with a 5 per cent profit.
Mr Ng’s company transferred the amount on May 4, 2017. On the same day, Lim withdrew S$200,000 from the sum, depositing half into Bavarian Motors’ account and half into his account at the Resorts World Sentosa casino to gamble.
The next day, he withdrew another S$304,000 to gamble at both casinos at Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands. In total, Lim misappropriated S$404,000 to gamble.
Lim lost more than S$800,000 through gambling from May 5, 2017, to May 8, 2017.
When Mr Ng asked about the order, Lim claimed that there were delays in the supply of the products. He then lied that the funds had been used to buy the products from Bavarian Motors, but that the company had refused to release them due to internal conflicts between him and his business partners.
He repeatedly lied that the sum had been transferred to Bavarian Motors.
Mr Ng’s company eventually filed a civil suit against Lim for repayment of the money and Lim declared bankruptcy.
The civil suit was then discontinued, with Mr Ng filing a police report on Sep 18, 2019, over the misappropriation.
Lim has not made restitution to Mr Ng’s company.
District Judge Salina Ishak said that the key sentencing principles in Lim’s case were general and specific deterrence.
She noted how Lim had repeatedly lied to a business associate and that no restitution had been made.
For criminal breach of trust, Lim could have been jailed for up to seven years, fined, or both.
