Surrey Hills Holdings claims more than half a million dollars from former CEO Pang Gek Teng 

SINGAPORE – Shortly after Surrey Hills Holdings announced

commencement of legal proceedings

against its former chief executive, it has detailed its claims against Ms Pang Gek Teng, which include making illegitimate expense claims, falsifying documents and enabling another employee to profit from unauthorised procurement markups.

It is claiming a total of over $597,000 from Ms Pang, plus interest. 

In its Oct 6 statement, it said it would be pursuing claims against Ms Pang, 

who founded the company in 2021

and oversaw five Surrey Hills Grocer outlets at locations like Ion Orchard and Raffles City. Her employment was terminated on March 26.

At 11.45pm on Oct 7, it sent out a 13-page Statement of Claim filed in the High Court to media outlets, detailing various allegations. 

One was that a total of $232,044 was allegedly transferred to Ms Pang’s personal Wise account from April 5, 2023, to Feb 21, 2024, with invoices and additional supporting documents falsified to cover up payments received.

Another claim was Ms Pang’s unauthorised use of company cards, over a period of almost two years from April 2023 to March 2025. Out of a total of $787,629 charged to the cards, only $229,134 could be identified as legitimate business expenses supported by receipts.

The Statement of Claim also alleged that a former procurement employee was permitted by Ms Pang to profit from unauthorised markups on several procurements, resulting in overpayments of at least $35,835.

In another incident, Ms Pang was said to have obtained cash of $20,000 from the company, purportedly for the purchase of items for it. Although she later returned the $20,000 “cash float” as requested, she allegedly falsified a vendor invoice and made false representations in an attempt to “misappropriate” funds for “her personal use”.

Besides its Surrey Hills Grocer cafe chain, Surrey Hills Holdings – a subsidiary of SHG Global – also runs other food and beverage brands. These include Spanish eatery MoVida Original, high-end hotpot brand Bon Broth and ramen restaurant Mensho Tokyo, all at Raffles City. 

In the interim, Madam Koh Chew Chee, director of the board of Surrey Hills Holdings, has taken over CEO duties.

In response to queries from ST, Ms Pang said: “As the case is before the courts, I will not be commenting on its details at this stage.” She added that her lawyers will respond to the claims in due course.