CATALIST-LISTED Metech International : V3M 0% has reached an amicable out-of-court settlement with Deng Yiming over its lawsuit against the latter over missing diamonds and inflated machine prices.

Deng is one of the former directors of Asian Eco Technology, a joint venture (JV) to manufacture and distribute lab-grown diamonds between Metech’s subsidiary Asian Green Tech and X Diamond Capital (XDC), which is owned by Deng. In filing its lawsuit, Metech had previously said that the missing pieces were last in Deng’s possession, and he had not satisfactorily addressed issues relating to them.

Metech filed a second lawsuit against Deng soon after, stating that it has reason to believe XDC sold five machines used for growing diamonds – known as microwave plasma chemical vapour deposition machines – to Asian Eco Technology at a price higher than their fair-market value on Oct 19, 2021.

Laying out the terms of the settlement deal in a bourse filing on Wednesday (Dec 13), Metech said that it will withdraw and terminate both legal suits, and work together with Deng to expand the diamond business. On his part, Deng will provide his professional technical support, including resuming mass production of the diamonds by using the five chemical vapour deposition machines, as well as maximising their economic and commercial benefits. He will also still have to pay the S$483,000 in damages to Metech, as ordered by the High Court in October.

Shares of Metech closed flat at S$0.033 on Thursday.