Mr Nelson Loh’s ex-wife and ex-business partner have been declared bankrupt.
Here’s what led to their bankruptcy.
Wanted To Buy Newcastle United in 2020
Before we jump into the bankruptcies, let’s set some context on who all these people are.
Mr Nelson Loh and Mr Terence Loh are cousins who founded Novena Global Healthcare Group (NGHG). In July 2020, they founded another company, Bellagraph Nova Group, with Chinese entrepreneur Evangeline Shen.
In August 2020, Bellagraph Nova Group made a bid of S$487 million to buy English Premier League football club Newcastle United. They were then embroiled in controversy after they were unable to substantiate their claims.
Sounds like a certain Parliament saga, doesn’t it?
Specifically, they labelled themself a “world’s leading conglomerate” with 31 entities in sectors like financial, sport, healthcare and luxury goods.
They also claimed to have revenue of S$16.6 billion in 2020, and said they had 23,000 employees and a new headquarters in Paris. All of these claims were not substantiated upon queries by the media.
After the scandal broke out, Mr Nelson Loh left Singapore, leaving his cousin Mr Terence Loh to clean up the mess.
Mr Nelson Loh apparently even transferred more than $5 million from their companies’ accounts to his personal one.
Former Wife and Business Partner Declared Bankrupt
Now that we know who the Loh cousins are, we can talk about how they led to the bankruptcy of themselves, and those close to them.
Mr Nelson Loh’s ex-wife, Ms Lee Chai Hoon, acted as a guarantor for a loan from HSBC for the cousins’ company. She was made bankrupt late last year on the bank’s application.
Meanwhile, the cousins’ former business partner, Ms Lynn Yeow, was also trapped in the same scenario where she was a guarantor for an HSBC loan.
HSBC had sued Ms Yeow in January 2021, in its bid to recover $3 million from Giron. Giro is a wine trading and distribution company that Ms Yeow and Ms Lee were directors and shareholders of.
Ms Yeow was declared bankrupt on her own application on 24 March.
In a statement against third-party defendants, Ms Yeow labelled herself a victim of alleged fraud. She further claimed that her role as a director of Giron from August 2018 to May 2020 was limited to marketing and communications.
Sister Also Fell into Bankruptcy
Ms Marjory Loh, the sister of Mr Terence Loh, was also made bankrupt in October 2021 on an application by DBS Bank. This is due to a debt of $3.2 million that she guaranteed.
Spot the trend here? All the women fell into bankruptcy because they trusted the Loh cousins, and acted as a guarantor for them.
This sentiment was echoed by Ms Yeow (the ex-business partner), who told The Straits Times that she made the mistake of being too trusting.
However, it’s not as if the cousins are living happily ever after. The duo have been declared bankrupt as well.
Declared Bankrupt Due to Debts
In September 2020, it was reported that accounting firm Ernst & Young (EY) made a police report, saying that some financial statements of NGHG which bore EY’s signatures were unauthorised.
EY did not sign off on the financial statements, which can only mean that NGHG faked these signatures.
A subsidiary of NGHG, Novena Global Healthcare, was incorporated in Singapore in 2016 and would also lead to the cousins’ downfall.
The company failed to pay DBS a debt of more than $14 million in December 2020. Mr Nelson Loh, who was a personal guarantor of the DBS loan, was declared bankrupt after his failure to repay the debt.
Mr Terence Loh also had outstanding debts with five banks that totalled $70 million, all from personal guarantees for loans for Novena Global Healthcare. He was sued by Maybank and was bankrupted in July 2021.
Featured Image: A Magazine Singapore