Coastal Oil CFO admits to duping 8 banks into disbursing US$320m in loans

Singapore

WITH Coastal Oil Singapore facing severe cash flow problems, its chief financial officer - together with three others including co-director Tan Sing Hwa - conspired to use forged sales contracts and invoices to dupe local and overseas banks into disbursing US$320 million in loans, the district court heard on Monday.

Ong Ah Huat joined the wholesale distributor of petroleum and petroleum products in May 2016, and he soon learnt that Mr Tan had devised a scheme to illegally obtain bank credit to address Coastal Oil's financial problems.