Sakae case: Who's blowing the whistle on corporate Singapore?

FOOD chain Sakae Sushi may be viewed as having scored a recent victory in its long-running legal battle with a former director, but we shouldn't be so quick as to blow the full-time whistle just yet.

While Singapore's apex court did last week rule in Sakae's favour in its claims against former director Andy Ong, the court's findings of "systemic abuse" and "misappropriation of funds (and) assets" by Mr Ong may also have put the entire matter well into extra time, by begging another question: where have Singapore's corporate and market regulators been on this issue?

First, a necessary recap of this long-running case. Mainboard-listed Sakae Holdings (Sakae), which runs the Sakae Sushi chain, had in September 2010 invested in a 24.69 per cent stake in a joint venture company, Griffin Real Estate Investment Holdings Pte Ltd (GREIH).