Former Inter-Pacific Petroleum (IPP) director, Dr Goh Jin Hian, have been sued by the company’s judicial managers for over US$156 million (S$212.6 million) in losses it sustained due to his alleged breach of director’s duties.
The judicial managers of IPP had earlier on (16 Sept) applied in High Court for an extension of judicial management order for another six months to consider taking Dr Goh to court.
Dr Goh, who was a director of IPP since 28 June 2011 to 10 August 2019, was accused of breaching his director’s duties “to act with skill, care and diligence” following the suspension of IPP’s bunker craft operator licence in June 2019.
A suit has been filed against the son of former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong in High Court on Friday (2 Oct) by LVM Law Chambers which represents the company’s judicial managers Deloitte & Touché.
IPP’s largest creditors, Malayan Banking (Maybank) and Societe Generale’s (SocGen) Singapore branch, were each owed by the company USD$88.3 million and USD$81.3 million respectively, according to Manifold Times’ report on 16 September.
Both companies had indicated an intention to fund the prospective legal action against Dr Goh.
In court documents seen by ST, the suit seeks to recover about US$156 million with interest from Dr Goh for drawdowns of trade financing between June and July 2019 that the banks alleged were “non-existent of sham transactions”.
Of those, US$146 million were allegedly drawn down for carrying out cargo trading operations, while another US$10.5 million allegedly drawn down from SocGen’s facility for carrying out its bunkering operations.
“In failing to prevent IPP from applying to SocGen and Maybank for drawdowns… at the time when IPP was insolvent, the defendant had acted in breach of his fiduciary duty to the plaintiff to take into account the interests of (IPP’s) creditors to ensure that the plaintiff’s assets are not dissipated or exploited to the prejudice of the creditors’ interests,” the suit said.
