Former CEO of Citiraya Industries slapped with a misappropriation charge, after nearly 2 decades on the run

The former chief executive officer of Citiraya Industries, Ng Teck Lee, was slapped with a misappropriation charge on Wednesday (Dec 4). His wife, Thor Chwee Hwa, was charged as well, with money laundering.

Ng’s criminal breach of trust charge alleges the 58-year-old misappropriated a total of 6,791 kg of electronic scrap entrusted to formerly listed Citiraya Industries by five companies in 2005. The charge did not state the monetary value of the scrap. The companies were Texas Instruments, Infineon Technologies Asia Pacific, ChipPac Malaysia, Singapore Technologies Microelectronics and RF Micro Devices (Beijing), with Infineon Technologies allegedly losing the most – 2,918 kg.

At the time, Citiraya Industries was in the business of recycling and recovering precious metals from electronic scrap, such as used computer chips, for clients including a few semiconductor giants. But instead of crushing items to recover precious metals from the scrap, Ng allegedly exported the scrap overseas to be sold.

This criminal breach of trust charge carries a mandatory jail term of up to seven years, and possibly a fine as well.

Meanwhile, Thor, 55, faces a money-laundering offence for allegedly opening a Credit Suisse Hong Kong Branch account in her name to receive in July 2003 Ng’s alleged ill-gotten gains of US$1.1 million from misappropriation. She could be sentenced to an imprisonment term not exceeding seven years, a fine not exceeding S$200,000, or both, if found guilty.

Their charges came after the couple were arrested in Malaysia on Tuesday, having skipped town nearly two decades ago when the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) began investigation.

In 2011, an order was made to seize some S$23 million worth of assets from Ng, including those held in his wife’s name. The assets included money from various bank accounts, insurance policies held by the couple, shareholdings in various companies, and proceeds from the sale of his Good Class Bungalow in Binjai Park and a 7,300-square-foot detached house in Paya Lebar.

Meanwhile, Citiraya Industries was restructured and renamed Centillion Environment and Recycling in 2006, and has been known as Metech International : V3M 0% since 2012 after merging with a US-based firm. The Catalist-listed firm was transferred from the mainboard in 2015.

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