Who is Catherine Wu, the woman said to have a ‘long relationship’ with Kwek Leng Beng?
CDL group chief executive Sherman Kwek says the ‘primary reason’ for the ongoing dispute at the property behemoth relates to ‘a very serious issue of corporate governance’ involving Dr Wu
CITY Developments Ltd (CDL) group chief executive Sherman Kwek highlighted a Dr Catherine Wu on Thursday (Feb 27) in his latest response to the “attempted coup” saga that broke in the public arena the day before.
In a detailed statement, he said the “primary reason” for the ongoing dispute at the property behemoth relates to “a very serious issue of corporate governance” involving Dr Wu, adviser to CDL executive chairman and his father Kwek Leng Beng.
He cited Dr Wu as holding an official position as adviser to the board of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (M&C), a wholly owned and principal subsidiary of CDL.
“(She) has been interfering in matters going well beyond her scope, and she wields and exercises enormous influence. These matters have troubled us as directors,” he said.
Sherman Kwek added that Dr Wu has a “long relationship” with the senior Kwek, and that “efforts that were made to manage the situation were done sensitively, but to no avail”.
Taiwanese celebrity
According to an interview that Dr Wu gave to Lianhe Zaobao in August 2024, she hails from Taiwan and has a doctorate in music education from New York University.
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When she was 15 years old, her parents sent her to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in the United States.
She subsequently won a scholarship in the United States and enrolled at The Juilliard School in New York for further studies.
She obtained a master’s degree in piano performance from The Juilliard School in 1982 and went on to obtain a doctorate from New York University.
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After earning her PhD and living in the US for 15 years, she returned to Taiwan and released several music albums as well as hosted a well-known music TV programme.
How she met Kwek Leng Beng
She first met Kwek in Taiwan in 1992, at a dinner party.
“I didn’t expect that this chance encounter would change my life”, Dr Wu said in the Zaobao interview.
Recounting that encounter, she said: “He asked me all kinds of questions, one second asking about politics and economics, the next second talking about music, the questions jumped back and forth. He seemed to be interviewing me to see if my mind was flexible and if my answers were consistent. Fortunately, I answered them well.”
Relocation to Singapore
Dr Wu, who is single, moved to Singapore in 1992.
She shared her reasons for the relocation in the interview: “I felt that Singapore’s fusion of Chinese and Western cultures was very suitable for me. In addition, I was somewhat famous in Taiwan at the time, and everyone paid a lot of attention to me. I wanted to move to a place where people didn’t know me, so that life would be easier.
“At the time, I was still doing shows and releasing albums. Singapore is not far from Taiwan, so it was easier to fly back to Taiwan for work.”
She devoted herself to early childhood education in the early 2000s, running a kindergarten for 10 years. Later, Dr Wu sold the business and became more active in various aspects of hotel management.
She then became the chief secretary of Kwek’s office, participating in the management of the group’s hotels around the world.
Into cybersecurity
In recent years, Dr Wu has entered the field of cybersecurity.
Seeing the increasingly serious cyberattacks by hackers, she became interested in cybersecurity and introduced the GeekCon cybersecurity competition and conference to Singapore in May last year. Kwek fully supported this cause and serves as an honorary consultant for GeekCon.
Dr Wu is secretary-general of GeekCon International, an initiative of Dark Navy, an independent security research institute.
She has been interviewed by the media about the latest cybersecurity trends and issues affecting Singapore and the region, as well as how pioneering research in such issues has attracted thousands of white-hat hackers and security researchers.
Accused of harassing Copthorne Hotels employee
In 2017, Tan Chee Hwee, who was senior vice-president of global procurement at the Gloucester Millennium Hotel in London, lodged a complaint against Copthorne Hotels after he was terminated that same year.
He accused Dr Wu of harassing him, and recalled how she referred to him as a “diva” on multiple occasions over WhatsApp. Tan, who identified as a Singaporean Chinese gay man, was reportedly “close friends and confidants” with Dr Wu before they fell out, according to a judgment by the UK employment tribunal.
In February 2016, Tan was in a meeting at the Gloucester hotel with Dr Wu, CDL executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng, and one Alavi, who was head of European projects for Copthorne Hotels.
Alavi allegedly complained to Kwek and Dr Wu that Tan “behaved like a diva”. Kwek is said to have “cross-examined Alavi and screamed loudly at Alavi for making false allegations”, court documents indicated. Kwek then told Tan not to behave like a diva.
Later in September, when Tan complained about another employee, Dr Wu told him over WhatsApp: “If you do not go, the chairman think you are playing diva or whatever people will tell him.”
She added: “Do not give up. Queen does not give up.”
Based on evidence heard in court, the employee tribunal concluded: “We find that the claimant did not find offensive Dr Wu calling him a ‘diva’ or a ‘queen’. He raised no complaint or grievance about it and he was not slow to put in a grievance if he felt threatened.”
The tribunal found that the reason for Tan’s dismissal was redundancy, and that Copthorne Hotels had followed fair procedure.
-Additional reporting by Jessie Lim
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