The Singapore government would consider filing a police report against bike-sharing operator oBike, if it fails to refund the deposits it owes, according to Senior Minister of State for Transport Janil Puthucheary.

He was replying to a question by Member of Parliament Lim Biow Chuan in Parliament on July 5, 2018, saying that such a step is "possible" if oBike does not return its deposit to its customers.

Lim said filing the report will ensure a "proper accounting of the funds" that should be with oBike, but are no longer available to refund consumers.

The bike-sharing company was in the news recently after it decided to close its operations in Singapore.

"This issue falls under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act, which is overseen by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and the short answer to the member's question is yes," said Puthucheary, before advising Lim to file a question with MTI to get a better understanding of the processes required. 

oBike's founder, Shi Yi, previously stated that the company owes its Singapore users S$6.3 million in deposits.

Puthucheary noted that Shi "publicly and personally committed" to a full refund of user deposits on July 1.

Puthucheary added that "oBike is now working out a process with CASE to refund user deposits" and emphasised that "it is oBike’s responsibility to have a concrete plan to refund user deposits and remove its bicycles from public spaces".

oBike is currently undergoing liquidation and has all of its assets frozen.

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While many have stated that it might be near impossible for everyone to get back their deposits, the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) said that oBike had committed to raise fund via alternative sources to provide a full refund to users.

Puthucheary also mentioned that following the licensing framework that is going to be incorporated by the Land Transport Authority (LTA), the LTA will study the need for bike-sharing operators to have a "security deposit or performance bond" if they impose a financial deposit on users. 

Top image by Joshua Lee.