S'porean tycoon, 58, & wife, 55, arrested in JB after 19 years on the run from S$72 million embezzlement case

For 19 years, a Singaporean tycoon and his wife were on the run after being investigated for an embezzlement case involving around S$72 million.

On Dec. 3, Ng Teck Lee, 58, and his wife, Thor Chwee Hwa, 55, were finally nabbed in Malaysia by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

They were handed over to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau’s (CPIB) custody on the same day, CPIB said in a press release on Dec. 4.

Who is Ng Teck Lee?

Ng was the chief executive officer of Citiraya Industries, a company in the business of recycling and recovering precious metals from electronic scrap.

Some of its clients included semiconductor giants like AMD, Intel and Infineon, The Straits Times (ST) reported.

However, instead of recovering precious metals, Ng allegedly sold the scrap to buyers in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Investigations later revealed that the illicit practice had purportedly made him more than S$72 million, ST reported.

His wife, Thor, was allegedly in on the scheme with him.

Lee's scheme

According to ST, Ng's brother — Citiraya’s then-general manager — would deliver the scrap to the warehouse of Thor's brother.

Ng would sell the scrap to syndicates in Taiwan and Hong Kong, where it was repackaged and sold as new products, according to a CPIB officer’s affidavit in June 2008 cited by ST.

A complaint was made in December 2004, which alerted authorities to the case.

However, the husband and wife left Singapore in 2005 as CPIB started investigating.

CPIB later discovered that Ng had allegedly misappropriated 62 shipments of electronic scrap, amounting to approximately 89 tonnes, between 2003 and 2004.

He was also accused of distributing nearly S$2 million in bribes to his staff and employees of some of his clients.

Since then, people involved in Ng's scheme have been taken to task for their roles in the crimes.

A total of 12 people have been jailed for between eight months and eight years.

Citiraya has since changed its name to Centillion Environment & Recycling Ltd.

Efforts by CPIB

When Ng and Thor went on the run, various efforts were made by the authorities to locate Ng in connection with CPIB’s investigations, the bureau said.

These included the issuance of an immigration stoplist, a police gazette, a Singapore Warrant of Arrest, and an International Warrant of Arrest through Interpol.

Charges

Ng and Thor are set to be charged for their offences on Dec. 4.

Ng is facing one charge of criminal breach of trust.

He allegedly dishonestly misappropriated electronic scraps of various companies, that had been entrusted to him, to his own use, CPIB said.

Ng instructed certain employees of Citiraya not to crush the electronic scraps, and to repackage and export them, CPIB added.

Thor faces one charge under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act.

Thor allegedly had an arrangement with Ng to open a bank account in her name with Credit Suisse in Hong Kong, and had reasonable grounds to believe that the account would be used to retain the benefits from Ng’s criminal conduct, CPIB said.

CPIB investigations are ongoing.

Appreciation to Malaysian counterparts

Vincent Lim, CPIB’s director of investigations, expressed his appreciation to the MACC for their strong support in rendering assistance to CPIB on the case.

"The successful arrest of the two Singaporean fugitives involved in this significant corruption case after almost two decades attests to the longstanding ties and close cooperation between CPIB and MACC," Lim said.

"There is zero-tolerance and no safe haven for those who choose to break our laws by engaging in corrupt or criminal activities. CPIB will spare no effort to track them down wherever they may hide and bring them to face justice in Singapore.”

Top photos via CPIB