Oct 13, 2010
SocGen sued in S'pore
TWO Societe Generale SA Singapore private bankers, making wrong bets on currency values, almost wiped out a client's US$10 million (S$13 million) account and for years attempted to hide the losses, the investor claims in a lawsuit, Bloomberg news reported on Wednesday. Chan Leong Cheng, a resident of Perth, Western Australia, is suing Societe Generale's Singapore private bank and the two executives in a bid to recover US$8 million of the losses.
'The defendants' management of the assets in the account created massive losses,' Mr Chan said in court papers filed in the High Court. The bankers 'made fraudulent representations to the plaintiff for a long period of time.' Societe Generale, France's second-biggest bank, suspended Jenny Liew Marn Leng, an executive director, and her direct supervisor Lilian Ang, after the losses were discovered, Mr Chan said in the court papers.
Both bankers had assured Mr Chan for several years the balance in the account was about US$8 million and provided statements reflecting that, even though the account had been almost depleted, Mr Chan said. Ang intends to defend the claim 'vigorously' and will make a counterclaim against Mr Chan, her lawyer Manjit Singh told Bloomberg. Liew was not available for response.
Mr Chan is seeking US$7.9 million, the difference between US$8.2 million the bankers claimed was in the account on March 3 and the actual holdings of $287,550 in cash and stocks.
