After years of delays, Singapore’s biggest corporate scandal trial starts tomorrow

SINGAPORE, Aug 10 — The trial of Hyflux founder and former chief executive Olivia Lum Ooi Lin, former chief financial officer Cho Wee Peng, and several former board members will finally start tomorrow, nearly three years after they were charged under the Securities and Futures Act.

Seven individuals were accused of failing to disclose key information about the Tuaspring Integrated Water and Power Project, which later became central to Hyflux’s financial collapse.

Six defendants will contest the charges in a 56-day trial running until Feb 5, 2026, while one former independent director has already pleaded guilty, Singapore’s The Straits Times reported.

The case follows Hyflux’s 2021 winding-up order, which left about 34,000 investors — including some from Malaysia — with total losses of around S$900 million in perpetual securities and preference shares.

Prosecutors will proceed on 11 charges against the six defendants, including two of the six counts faced by Lum, while four other charges against her will be considered during sentencing if she is found guilty.

The first charge alleges that Lum consented to Hyflux withholding information about Tuaspring when disclosure was required under Singapore Exchange rules to prevent a false market in its securities.

Prosecutors say Lum failed to inform the exchange that Tuaspring was Hyflux’s first step into the electricity market and that the plant’s profitability depended heavily on electricity sales revenue.

If convicted of this charge, the 64-year-old faces a maximum penalty of seven years in prison, a S$250,000 (RM824,000) fine, or both.

The second charge accuses her of omitting the same information in Hyflux’s April 13, 2011, offer statement for S$200 million worth of 6 per cent preference shares, an offence that carries up to two years’ jail, a S$150,000 fine, or both.

Cho, 56, who also served as Hyflux’s group executive vice-president, faces charges of conniving in the omission of Tuaspring-related information.

Four former independent directors – Teo Kiang Kok, 69; Christopher Murugasu, 66; Gay Chee Cheong, 69; and Lee Joo Hai, 69 – each face two charges of neglect and omission of material details about Tuaspring.

Another independent director, Rajsekar Kuppuswami Mitta, pleaded guilty on Aug 7 to neglect in a 2011 announcement that named Hyflux as the “preferred bidder” for Tuaspring without disclosing it was entering the electricity business, and was fined S$90,000 and barred from directorship for five years.