E-Malt.com News article: 1607

The Asian brewing group, Asia-Pacific Breweries Ltd (APB) said on September 24 it had received undisclosed claims from German, Swedish and Japanese banks after one of the brewer's executives was charged with defrauding them of up to US$69 million. The brewer of Singapore's popular Tiger brand beer is at the the centre of a scandal which on September 24 brought four new charges against Chia Teck Leng, the finance manager of APB's Singapore subsidiary. Chia, suspended from his job and in police custody, has been charged over the past two weeks with 32 counts of fraudulently obtaining loans in the name of the Singapore unit, Asia Pacific Breweries (Singapore) Pte Ltd (APBS).

"Claims against APBS have been asserted by banks with respect to the unauthorised transactions," APB said in a statement on September 24. A company official declined to reveal the amount of the claims or say which banks had made them, but the firm plans to contest them. "The company has sought legal advice on these claims and has been advised that legal defences are available to APBS," APB said.

In the largest of the alleged scams, Chia has been accused of defrauding Germany's second-largest bank, HVB of $30 million by withdrawing funds from a term loan that he had set up on behalf of the brewer based on what the company says are forged and fictitious documents. Other charges include withdrawing $25 million from a loan facility at Sweden's SEB; about $5.7 million from a similar account at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation; and $8 million from Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd. The withdrawals, which were made between March and July this year, came after the banks had allegedly granted millions of dollars in credit facilities to Chia, believing he was operating in the name of the APB subsidiary.

APB itself is 42.5 %-owned by Dutch brewer Heineken NV and 37.9 %-owned by Singapore beverage and property conglomerate Fraser & Neave Ltd. It operates 14 breweries from New Zealand, Papua New Guinea to China, and also sells Heineken, Anchor and ABC Stout brands.

APB, which had hired accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers to investigate the alleged fraud and forgery case, said all material cash-balances of APBS had been accounted for. Singapore's white-collar crime buster, the Criminal Affairs Department, brought the charges of fraud and signature forgery against Chia early this month. He was alleged to have opened the credit facilities over a five-year period from 1999 when he worked as finance manager of the unit.

The next court hearing in the case is set for October 1.


26 September, 2003