So absolute was Chia's power at the time that he was able to keep his subordinates in the dark as he put the money into his personal slush fund between 1999 and 2003, the High Court heard yesterday.

Chia, 47, has served three years of a 42-year jail term, having pleaded guilty in 2004 to six counts of forgery and eight of cheating.

Now, the banks - Germany's Bayerische Hypo-und Vereinsbank (HVB); the North-European Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB); and Japanese banks Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and The Fuji Bank, which is now known as Mizuho Corporate Bank - have filed civil suits against APB to recover the money that Chia cheated them of.

Their contention: Chia carried out his acts as APB's finance manager. and so the company is bound by the terms of the loans to repay the money. They will also argue that the brewery was allegedly negligent and had put the banks at risk by not detecting that Chia had dipped into APB's bank accounts.

Some of the banks are also likely to contend that APB failed to carry out enough background checks, which would have revealed Chia's million-dollar gambling debts before he joined APB.

Chia has also been named as the second defendant in the suits.

Details of the largest case of commercial fraud here came out yesterday when Senior Counsel Steven Chong, acting for SEB, pinned the responsibility squarely on Chia and APB.

Delivering the opening statement before Justice Belinda Ang, he said Chia spun a web of deceit for close to five years.

'It will become apparent that the material which permitted Chia to spin the web of deceit came from APB (Singapore) itself,' he said.

As finance manager, he submitted to the banks fictitious documents with forged signatures of top APB executives, which convinced them to give him credit facilities in APB's name. He then became the sole signatory to a personal slush fund, which he tapped for his casino jaunts worldwide. By the time he was arrested, he had already blown $62 million.

Mr Chong said Chia managed to evade detection due to his 'absolute control' over APB's finance department.

He also alleged that Chia gave 'standing instructions' to his secretary never to open any letters from banks addressed to him and was told to collect all the finance department's mail.

Mr Chong questioned why Chia was able to do what he did over such a lengthy period of time: 'Any assessment of the merits of the case must address the fundamental issue as to how Chia was able to perpetrate the fraud for almost five years and yet remained undetected.

'Viewed in this context, it will be apparent that APB (Singapore) allowed this to happen and therefore must bear the consequences of their finance manager,' he added.

The hearing continues today.

cheekin@sph.com.sg

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