Epicentre ex-chairman faces bankruptcy petition over S$588,020 debt

Singapore

THE former acting chief executive officer and executive chairman of Catalist-listed Epicentre Holdings Kenneth Lim Tiong Hian is facing a bankruptcy petition for a judgment debt of over half a million dollars.

Tay Oon Tiong, through his lawyers Winston Quek & Company, took out a notice in The Straits Times on Thursday to inform Mr Lim of a bankruptcy application against him. This came about as the petition notice could not be served directly on Mr Lim.

Mr Lim, who disappeared in May, has remained incommunicado.

A bankruptcy search by The Business Times shows that Mr Tay filed a bankruptcy petition against Mr Lim on Nov 14 for S$588,020. BT understands that it arose from a judgment debt after Mr Tay obtained a default judgment when Mr Lim did not respond to his legal claim.

Mr Lim was sued for allegedly misrepresenting and inducing Mr Tay into signing two loan agreements and disbursing the sum involved to a company in 2018. The company is not the former Apple reseller Epicentre.

The bankruptcy application will be heard at the High Court on Dec 19, for which Mr Lim is required to be present. The court may make a bankruptcy order against him in his absence.

This comes months after a firm and an individual obtained a Mareva injunction against Mr Lim in June. The injunction freezes his assets of up to a value of S$3.85 million.

Epicentre fired Mr Lim in July, two months after his unexplained no-show.

The company has since appointed a special auditor to look into issues that involve Mr Lim.