Creditors spare China Aviation Oil, but Singapore charges Chen Jiulin, 4 others
Five top managers of China's main jet fuel supplier will be charged today in a Singapore court over its listed arm's US$550 million losses on oil-price speculation - hours after its creditors accepted a deal saving the business from liquidation.
Police detained Chen Jiulin , the suspended chief executive of China Aviation Oil (CAO), head of finance Peter Lim, the president of its Beijing parent company, Jia Changbin, and two Singapore-based executives ahead of today's hearing.
Chen, 43, who faces 15 charges, fled Singapore before the firm disclosed its massive losses but returned to face the music. He had been on police bail since his arrest last year.
Jia, president of China Aviation Oil Holdings, may face an insider trading charge related to the sale of a 15 per cent stake worth about S$196 million (HK$919 million) barely a month before CAO sought court protection from creditors.
The decision to arrest him has major political implications and would not have been taken lightly by the Singaporean government.
'This is the way Singapore can demonstrate to the world that our corporate governance standards are preserved,' said David Gerald, a former judge and president of the Securities Investors Association in Singapore.