SINGAPORE – Corporate figure Lim How Teck and four fellow directors of Raffles Education, including chairman-cum-chief executive Chew Hua Seng, were charged on Sept 20 with breaching disclosure obligations under the Securities and Futures Act.
Lim, Chew, Ng Kwan Meng, Ho Yan Jun, and John Teo Cheng Lok face two charges each.
The two disclosure charges stem from a RM410 million (S$133 million) loan extended by Affin Bank to the private education provider’s subsidiaries – Raffles K12 and Raffles Iskandar – which manage schools in Malaysia.
The Raffles Education group was served a lawsuit by Affin Bank for immediate repayment of the loan on May 27, 2021, but disclosed this publicly to shareholders only two months later, on July 29, at the request of the Singapore Exchange.
Lim resigned as chairman of Temasek-backed Heliconia Capital, months after he was arrested in February 2022 in his capacity as the lead independent director of Raffles Education Corp.
The cases of Lim and the other four have been adjourned to Nov 1, as their counsel said they have just been engaged and needed to take instructions from the accused.
Raffles Education requested a trading halt on Sept 20, before the market opened. THE BUSINESS TIMES