Head of Singapore-listed magazine publisher and property company on trial over $1m loan
Published on Jun 5, 2014 1:12 PM
A two-day trial opened on Thursday, June 5, 2014, for the head of Singapore-listed magazine publisher and property company Eastern Holdings, Stephen Tay Thian Boon, over a $1 million loan his group made almost ten years ago to another firm, Dormitory Investments. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
By Ian Poh
SINGAPORE - A two-day trial opened on Thursday for the head of Singapore-listed magazine publisher and property company Eastern Holdings, over a $1 million loan his group made almost ten years ago to another firm, Dormitory Investments.
Chairman and managing director Stephen Tay Thian Boon, 56, has been charged with pocketing $400,000 of the sum and allegedly failing to declare this to the Eastern Holdings board in March 2006. He is also accused of cheating the group's financial controller into co-signing two cheques to disburse the $1 million in Jan 2005, by hiding his interest in it.
A district court heard that in 2005, Tay had been approached by personal friend Granner Lim Kian Boo, who previously ran a printing business that dealt with Eastern Holdings.
Mr Lim sought $600,000 from Tay on behalf of the bosses of Dormitory Investments. This was the balance required to complete a $12 million deal for a foreign worker dormitory along 39 Kaki Bukit.
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