Singapore, Oct. 9 - HVB and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) said on Tuesday that they are continuing a multi-million-dollar civil suit against Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) despite the pullout by two Japanese banks.
Mizuho on Tuesday applied and got permission from Singapore's high court to have its suit against APB dismissed. Sumitomo Mitsui's claim was dismissed after its lawyer said the Japanese bank would not be calling any witnesses.
The four banks had earlier demanded that APB, a joint venture between Singapore conglomerate Fraser & Neave and Dutch brewer Heineken, compensate them for losses arising from bogus loans to an ex-APB executive.
HVB, a unit of Italy's Unicredit, is claiming $30 million, while SEB wants $25 million plus interest.
In their legal statements, the two European banks alleged that Chia Teck Leng, former finance manager of APB's Singapore unit, was able to cheat them over a period of four years by virtue of his senior position and APB's weak internal controls.
Chia was jailed for 42 years in April 2004 for using forged documents to cheat the four banks of S$117 million over nearly five years to feed a gambling addiction. About S$35 million of the funds have been recovered, according to local media, in what was Singapore's biggest commercial fraud case.
"HVB will not be withdrawing its claim against Asia Pacific Breweries (Singapore)," the German lender said in a statement.
"HVB's case is that APB (Singapore) is bound by the terms of the HVB Loan Agreement because it was entered into by Chia in his capacity as finance manager," it added.
"We believe, as we always have, that we have a strong case and are confident of the merits," Sven Bjorkman, general manager of SEB Singapore branch, said in another statement.
APB said in a statement the Japanese banks' withdrawal was "testimony to its stand that APB (Singapore) is a victim of fraud as Chia Teck Leng acted alone."
"His actions were not discovered as the banks were lax in their due diligence," APB added.
SEB and HVB's suit against APB is scheduled to run for two months.