Man sues firm for $2m compensation
by Selina Lum
A SINGAPORE businessman jailed for six months in Indonesia for embezzlement has gone to the High Court here to get more than $2 million in compensation from the company that sent him to work there.
Mr Leslie Ang Kok Wee, 38, was appointed by steel cylinder manufacturer Capitol Gravure Industries as a 'representative' tasked with safeguarding its interest in an Indonesian subsidiary.
He described himself in court yesterday as a 'debt recoverer', appointed in July 2002 by the company as a commissioner of its subsidiary in Indonesia.
While there in 2006, he was arrested and sentenced to two years and eight months in jail on two charges of siphoning $70,000 from the company.
He was acquitted on appeal, but had, by then, spent six months behind bars. He claimed that he had to sell an apartment and his two cars here to raise $380,000 in funds for his defence.
Now, he wants Capitol Gravure Industries to pay him $1.98 million in losses he suffered as a result of his imprisonment and legal fees, as well as US$41,000 (S$58,000) in additional legal fees.
Mr Ang, who has a law degree and a master's degree in banking and finance, contends that the company had agreed to fully indemnify him for damages, costs and expenses incurred during his stint.
The company is not contesting the validity of the indemnity, but it argues that it does not cover losses or damages arising from criminal proceedings, nor a situation in which the losses and damages were brought about by his own wrongdoing.
Hearing into the lawsuit began yesterday before Justice Tan Lee Meng and is scheduled to go on for three more days.
Capitol Gravure Industries is the majority shareholder in the Indonesian subsidiary, PT Capitol Gravure Industries. An Indonesian, Mr Lim Tji Bin, holds the remaining 35 per cent.
The two shareholders have been in dispute since 1998 over how the subsidiary should be run, the court heard.
After Mr Ang was appointed, he prepared documents and got the company to indemnify him against liabilities that might be incurred while working for it.
In May 2003, he told Capitol Gravure that he would be getting the subsidiary to pay 914 million rupiah (S$139,557) to three retrenched employees, and that the money would be transferred to a Hong Kong account.
However, only 510 million rupiah was paid to the employees.
At around that time, Mr Ang used his corporate credit card to pay for his personal expenses here, which amounted to about 55 million rupiah.
Later that year, minority shareholder Mr Lim complained to the Indonesian police that Mr Ang and others were embezzling funds. He died in an air crash in November 2004.
Mr Ang was arrested in September 2006.
Last July, he filed a suit against the company seeking compensation.
by Selina Lum
A SINGAPORE businessman jailed for six months in Indonesia for embezzlement has gone to the High Court here to get more than $2 million in compensation from the company that sent him to work there.
Mr Leslie Ang Kok Wee, 38, was appointed by steel cylinder manufacturer Capitol Gravure Industries as a 'representative' tasked with safeguarding its interest in an Indonesian subsidiary.
He described himself in court yesterday as a 'debt recoverer', appointed in July 2002 by the company as a commissioner of its subsidiary in Indonesia.
While there in 2006, he was arrested and sentenced to two years and eight months in jail on two charges of siphoning $70,000 from the company.
He was acquitted on appeal, but had, by then, spent six months behind bars. He claimed that he had to sell an apartment and his two cars here to raise $380,000 in funds for his defence.
Now, he wants Capitol Gravure Industries to pay him $1.98 million in losses he suffered as a result of his imprisonment and legal fees, as well as US$41,000 (S$58,000) in additional legal fees.
Mr Ang, who has a law degree and a master's degree in banking and finance, contends that the company had agreed to fully indemnify him for damages, costs and expenses incurred during his stint.
The company is not contesting the validity of the indemnity, but it argues that it does not cover losses or damages arising from criminal proceedings, nor a situation in which the losses and damages were brought about by his own wrongdoing.
Hearing into the lawsuit began yesterday before Justice Tan Lee Meng and is scheduled to go on for three more days.
Capitol Gravure Industries is the majority shareholder in the Indonesian subsidiary, PT Capitol Gravure Industries. An Indonesian, Mr Lim Tji Bin, holds the remaining 35 per cent.
The two shareholders have been in dispute since 1998 over how the subsidiary should be run, the court heard.
After Mr Ang was appointed, he prepared documents and got the company to indemnify him against liabilities that might be incurred while working for it.
In May 2003, he told Capitol Gravure that he would be getting the subsidiary to pay 914 million rupiah (S$139,557) to three retrenched employees, and that the money would be transferred to a Hong Kong account.
However, only 510 million rupiah was paid to the employees.
At around that time, Mr Ang used his corporate credit card to pay for his personal expenses here, which amounted to about 55 million rupiah.
Later that year, minority shareholder Mr Lim complained to the Indonesian police that Mr Ang and others were embezzling funds. He died in an air crash in November 2004.
Mr Ang was arrested in September 2006.
Last July, he filed a suit against the company seeking compensation.
