SINGAPORE: A Singaporean man and his wife were arrested in Malaysia on Tuesday (Dec 3) in connection to a fraud case involving over US$51 million after being on the run for 19 years.
Ng Teck Lee, the then-CEO of electronics recycling firm Citiraya Industries, and his wife, Thor Chwee Hwa, were handed over to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on the same day.
In a press release on Wednesday, CPIB said Ng, 58, had left Singapore in 2005 with Thor, 55, when investigations started.
“Various efforts were made by the authorities to locate Ng in connection with CPIB’s investigations,” it added, noting that an immigration stoplist and police gazette were issued, as well as Interpol red notices and warrants for arrest.
Ng will be charged in court on Wednesday. He is facing one charge of criminal breach of trust and is accused of misappropriating electronic scraps of various companies, that were entrusted to him, to his own use.
Thor, who will also be charged on the same day, is facing one count of assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct.
She allegedly arranged with her husband to open a Credit Suisse Hong Kong branch account in her name, knowing that the account would be used to retain the benefits from his suspected criminal conduct.
CPIB director of investigations Vincent Lim said: “The successful arrest of the two Singaporean fugitives involved in this significant corruption case after almost two decades attests to the long-standing ties and close cooperation between CPIB and MACC.”
“There is zero-tolerance and no safe haven for those who choose to break our laws by engaging in corrupt or criminal activities.”
Mr Lim added that CPIB will spare no effort to track fugitives down wherever they may hide and bring them to face justice in Singapore, and that investigations are ongoing.
CITIRAYA CASE
In a High Court judgment released in 2011, Citiraya was involved in the business of recycling and recovering precious metals from electronic scrap.
According to an affidavit filed by a CPIB officer in 2008, Ng was entrusted with electronic scrap sent to Citiraya by its customers for destruction.
However, Ng, with the assistance of his brother, who was Citiraya’s general manager, in 2003 and 2004 allegedly misappropriated a portion of the electronic scrap that had been sent for destruction by the chip manufacturers.
Some of the scrap were instead repacked and sold to buyers in Hong Kong and Taiwan for about US$51.2 million, with the monies transfered to three bank accounts in Hong Kong.
A court order was made in 2011 to seize some of Ng’s assets, including the monies in his First Commercial Bank accounts, as well as bungalows in Binjai Park and Paya Lebar Crescent that were jointly owned by the couple.
