Raffles Town Club founders win lawsuit

Court of Appeal dismisses claim that they had siphoned off club funds

Former remisier king Peter Lim and three other founders of Raffles Town Club (RTC) have secured a final victory in a mega legal action taken against them by the club and its current shareholders.

The Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld an earlier High Court decision, dismissing a $130 million claim brought by RTC against founding directors Dennis Foo, Lawrence Ang and William Tan, and Mr Lim, an RTC consultant up to April 2001.

In the decision, the judges were scathing in their assessment of the motives of the current shareholders - Chinese investor Lin Jian Wei and Singapore businesswoman Margaret Tung - for using the club to bring the suit.

Mr Lin and Ms Tung had taken over RTC in July 2001. The club and the pair had argued that the four founders had siphoned off the club's funds through directors' fees, as well as management fees to an external firm of which the men were shareholders or beneficial shareholders.