Singaporean tycoon arrested after 19 years running from $51M embezzlement case

They were caught in Malaysia by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on Tuesday and handed over to Singapore’s Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), the latter said in a press release.

Ng Teck Lee (middle in left photo) and Thor Chwee Hwa (right in right photo) in Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau's custody on Dec. 3, 2024. Photo by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau

The couple, charged in court on Wednesday, are the key suspects in the corruption case involving recycling firm Citiraya Industries, a firm in the business of recycling and recovering precious metals from electronic scrap.

Ng was charged with one count of criminal breach of trust, accused of misappropriating electronic scraps from various companies that had been entrusted to him, The Straits Times reported.

Thor was charged with one count of dealing with the benefits of criminal conduct.

She allegedly arranged with her husband to open a Credit Suisse Hong Kong Branch account in her name when she had reasonable grounds to believe that it would be used to retain the benefits from his criminal conduct, according to CPIB.

Ng was the then-CEO of Citiraya, which was responsible for receiving scrap from clients, including tech giants like AMD, Intel and Infineon, and sending them to be crushed and recycled, as reported by CNA.

However, he allegedly misappropriated a portion of those scrap products in 2003 and 2004 with the help of his brother, who was the firm’s general manager.

The items were sold to syndicates in Taiwan and Hong Kong, then repackaged and sold as new products, according to a CPIB officer’s affidavit.

His schemes were exposed in December 2004 after a chip from a US-based client appeared in Taiwan when it should have been scrapped in Singapore.

Investigations later revealed that Ng had allegedly misappropriated 62 shipments, or approximately 89 tons, of electronic scrap, earning $51 million between 2003 and 2004. The funds were transferred to three bank accounts in Hong Kong.

Ng also allegedly bribed several individuals and 12 have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from eight months to eight years for their involvement in the crimes.

He and his wife fled the city-state in 2005 when investigation into the case began.

Vincent Lim, director of investigations at CPIB, said in the press release that the arrest made after almost two decades shows there is no tolerance for those who break the law by engaging in corrupt or criminal activities.

"CPIB will spare no effort to track them down wherever they may hide and bring them to face justice in Singapore," he said.