Tee's ex-CEO admits to taking company funds for personal use: Report

Former Tee International chief executive Phua Chian Kin had admitted to taking company funds to repay his own debts and satisfy margin calls, a report summary noted yesterday.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Risk Services set out how remittances were made in and out of the company's coffers under Mr Phua's instructions. The chief financial officer at that time, Ms Yeo Ai Mei, executed his orders between July 2018 and October last year.

Singapore Exchange's regulatory arm said in a statement later that it "will be carefully reviewing PwC's report as well as other matters to do with the company for potential breaches of the listing rules".

Mr Phua was relieved of his CEO duties last September but remains a director.

Last year, independent auditors Deloitte & Touche noted that the group had paid $3.75 million to Mr Phua and Oscar Investment, an offshore company he controls.

The PwC report said Tee International's subsidiary PBT Engineering received $2.8 million from Oscar Investment on July 19, 2018, purportedly to be used as a fixed deposit to secure a facility line with a bank for group operations.

PBT Engineering later repaid Oscar Investment the amount via a cheque, which was cleared on July 24, but the payment voucher was issued only three weeks after the funds transfer - under Ms Yeo's instructions.

Tee International unit Trans Equatorial Engineering transferred $500,000 to Mr Phua's personal account on Feb 12 last year, which was jointly approved by Mr Phua and Ms Yeo, who said there was a request from Mr Phua for the purposes of a "corporate exercise".

However, Tee International's internal auditors were told a different story in October by Mr Phua, who admitted that $165,000 of the funds were used to repay his loan from a moneylender while the remaining $335,000 was purportedly used to satisfy margin calls from stock brokers.

Trans Equatorial Engineering and PBT Engineering transferred $1 million and $2 million respectively in March last year to Oscar Investment. Ms Yeo told PwC that Mr Phua had requested the funds for a "corporate exercise", so she instructed the treasury to perform the transfers.

The audit committee was told in July last year by Mr Phua that the $3 million was to qualify the group for a project in Cambodia.

However, the internal auditors were told - also by Mr Phua - that he had used $251,478 of the $3 million for partial repayment of a $1.5 million personal loan while $2.5 million was used in two repayments for a loan taken by Oscar Investment from a third party.

PwC noted that the loan that Oscar Investment had taken out was a back-to-back loan arrangement Mr Phua had with Tee International's majority-owned listed unit, Tee Land, for the funding of a project.

Mr Phua told PwC that he thought it was "appropriate" for him to request monetary aid from the group when he was in financial difficulties, and that he had the intention of repaying the loan.

He further claimed that his pride had resulted in contradictory statements given to different parties, as he "did not want the audit committee to know he was in need of cash". Mr Phua and Oscar Investment have repaid all sums to Tee International as of August last year.

Tee International said it is reviewing the findings of PwC and will address the matters raised and the steps to be taken.

It ordered Ms Yeo to leave last week due to her involvement in certain unauthorised payments.

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