With that, Mr Thio Keng Poon, 78, has lost his High Court quest to be reinstated to his positions in two family companies.

Justice Lai Siu Chiu prefaced her decision by remarking that she found it unfortunate that he had to go to court to sue his wife and six children and 'wash dirty linen in public'.

She said of him: 'At the end of the day - let's put it very mildly - he did something wrong...something you do not expect the chairman and managing director of a company to do.'

In November 2007, Mr Thio was removed from Malaysia Dairy as chairman, managing director and director by his family members, following an audit report indicating that he had repeatedly made double claims for air tickets amounting to about $45,000.

Malaysia Dairy, known for its household products such as Vitagen and Marigold, is the flagship in the group of family companies. He was also removed from another company, Modern Dairy.

By then, he was already a minority shareholder, as he had given away his shares to his family members over the years.

A year later, his salary of $70,000 and various perks were withdrawn; in February, he was barred from even entering the Malaysia Dairy premises after he verbally abused his youngest son and a senior employee.

Fighting against being pushed out, Mr Thio sued his wife, three sons, three daughters and four family companies for oppression.

Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.