SINGAPORE - Catalist-listed Metech International said on Monday night that a lawsuit has been filed against Mr Deng Yiming, one of the owners of its unit’s former joint venture (JV) partner, over missing diamond seeds and loose diamonds.

The pieces were last in his possession and he had, to date, not satisfactorily addressed issues relating to them, Metech said in a filing to the Singapore Exchange.

The JV entity, Asian Eco Technology (AET), has begun legal action in Singapore’s High Court against Mr Deng.

Diamond seeds are crystals of diamonds that can be either mined or grown in a laboratory.

Set up on Sept 24, 2021, AET is a joint venture between Metech’s wholly owned subsidiary, Asian Green Tech (AGT), and X Diamond Capital to manufacture and distribute lab-grown diamonds.

On Monday, Metech said AET’s directors, which used to include Mr Deng as well, had filed a police report on issues relating to the missing diamond seeds and loose diamonds on Feb 14.

This was after AGT on Jan 17 issued a default notice in writing to X Diamond Capital to terminate the JV agreement with the partner. It was on grounds that the company and its appointed directors in AET, namely Mr Deng and Mr Yang Hanyu, had failed to satisfactorily address numerous issues and irregularities relating to the JV.

There were also issues relating to outstanding loan advances, irregularities with the importation of machines supplied to AET, and the sale of machines to AET at an inflated price, Metech noted.

Mr Deng was removed as AET’s director by a members’ resolution dated Jan 17, which was passed on the same day.

Metech shares closed up 52.2 per cent at seven cents on Monday before the filing. At market close on Tuesday, they were unchanged at seven cents. THE BUSINESS TIMES