Asia Pacific Breweries: We were a victim of fraud

Court of Appeal has junked the case involving two European banks who appealed to recover a total of $59 million taken by former APB finance manager Chia Teck Leng.

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (SEB) and Bayersiche Hypo-und Vereinsbank Aktiengesellschaft (HVB) had sued Asia Pacific Breweries to recover $27 million and $32 million, respectively.

The former APB finance manager who took the money was sentenced to 42 years in jail in 2004 for forging documents to swindle a group of banks out of S$117 million, according to Reuters. The report said the banks, which included SEB and HVB, thought they had lent the money to APB. The brewer maintained it had not authorised the loans.

In a statement APB CEO Roland Pirmez said, "We are very pleased with the court's decision, which strongly reinforces the company's stand that APB Singapore was itself a victim of fraud."

View the full report here.