Singapore: German bank says Asia Pacific Breweries had lax financial controls

A German bank claimed Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) did not do enough to stop its former manager from pulling off the largest commercial fraud in Singapore, DPA reported November 2. Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank (HVB) is seeking to recover 30 million US dollars from APB.

Senior counsel Alvin Yeo said he would show the court that there were "serious failures" in APB's internal controls, The Straits Times said.

"There was nothing to deter" former APB manager Chia Teck Leng from fleecing four banks out of more than 100 million Singapore dollars (68 million US dollars) between 1999 and 2003 to pay for gambling sprees, Yeo was quoted as saying.

Business practises at APB, brewer of Tiger Beer, were akin to "having the fox guard the henhouse," Yeo said.

Another bank seeking to recover lost money, the North-European Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB), closed its case Thursday. A third bank has had its case dismissed, and the fourth withdrew.

Chia, 47, gave the banks fraudulent documents with the forged signatures of top APB executives, which convinced the institutions to give him credit facilities in the brewery's name.

By the time he was arrested, Chia had gone on casino jaunts worldwide.

02 November, 2007