Terence Loh lodges police report on allegedly improper S$5.25m transfers from Giron

DISPUTES between the Loh cousins are deepening, with Terence Loh Ne-Wei making a police report alleging improper transfers of S$5.25 million from wine company Giron's accounts. The alleged transgressions emerged after he brought in accounting experts to check.

Mr Loh lodged a police report on Monday, claiming that there were six unauthorised transfers totalling S$5.25 million from the accounts of Giron to the bank accounts of a relative between April 27 and May 5.

The Business Times understands that he named a suspect behind the transfers in the police report. The transfers were brought to his attention after accounting experts were hired, following his appointment as director of Giron in mid-May.

He told BT: "Notwithstanding the transfers, Giron has received expressions of interest from potential buyers. One party has expressed strong interest in its business operations, relationships with vineyards and customer base; and is currently conducting legal and financial due diligence on the company ... I am hopeful of concluding a transaction in the coming weeks."

The police confirmed a report was lodged, and investigations are ongoing.

Giron, incorporated in 2005, is a wine trader and distributor in which the 43-year-old Mr Loh now owns a 36.4 per cent stake. His younger sister Marjory Loh Erchang has a 27.4 per cent stake in Giron, and the remaining stake is held by Melina Yong, wife of wine expert and reviewer NK Yong.

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Mr Loh had bought out the stake in Giron of Lee Chai Hoon, the wife of his 40-year-old cousin Nelson Loh Ne-Loon.

The Loh cousins burst into the spotlight in August for their reported £280 million (S$502 million) takeover bid for English Premier League club Newcastle United.

But things went downhill for them when doctored photographs featuring them and former United States president Barack Obama, and inconsistencies in publicity materials surfaced.

The duo went separate ways in their business ventures in the medical, wellness and aesthetics sectors in October.

Mr Nelson Loh's whereabouts are reportedly not known.