Lim Leong Huat v Chip Hup Hup Kee Construction Pte Ltd and another

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Quentin Loh J
• Judgment Date: 08 June 2010
• Neutral Citation: [2010] SGHC 170
• Plaintiff Counsel: Randolph Khoo, Johnson Loo and Chew Ching Li (Drew & Napier LLC)
• Docket Number: Suit No 779 of 2006
• Date: 08 June 2010
• Hearing Date: 23 December 2009,20 November 2009,12 October 2009,22 December 2009,21 December 2009
• Subject Matter: Restitution,Tort
• Published date: 22 June 2010
• Citation: [2010] SGHC 170
• Defendant Counsel: Molly Lim SC, Philip Ling and Hwa Hoong Luan (Wong Tan & Molly Lim LLC)
• Court: High Court (Singapore)
• Year: 2010

Quentin Loh J: Introduction

“A falling out of thieves” is an apt description of this case. For 6 weeks I heard the evidence unfold: of non-existent employees (euphemistically called “Proxies”) comprising real persons complete with identity card numbers and Central Provident Fund (“CPF”) accounts, of utilising these falsified local employees to mislead the Ministry of Manpower (“MOM”) into allotting higher foreign worker entitlements, of levying “commissions” on foreign workers from China, of fictitious invoices to build up a track record of “profit” for possible listing, of withdrawals of large sums of money from another euphemistically styled “Salary Accruals” account which enabled the directors not only to withdraw large sums of money as reimbursement of non-existent “expenses” but also to evade tax, of fictitious payments to non-existent subcontractors, of questionable loans (some of which were in the hundreds of thousands) to the company, and also of other loans which were made on one day and withdrawn or repaid on the next. And it is now my unenviable task to decide who, between the two protagonists, I am to believe.

The protagonists are Mr Lim Leong Huat, (“Lim”), who is the Plaintiff and Mr Neo Kok Eng, (“Neo”), who is the 2nd Defendant in this suit. The 1st Defendant is Chip Hup Hup Kee Construction Pte Ltd, (“CHKC”), a company owned by Neo. Lim is suing CHKC for the recovery of loans made to it over a period from 2003 to 2006, as well as cost of funds (“COF”) compensation for expenses Lim incurred in obtaining the funds to loan to CHKC. Lim also claims against CHKC and Neo for conspiring to injure him by depriving him of payment of the monies Lim had advanced to CHKC. In response, CHKC has brought a very large counterclaim against Lim, his wife, Mdm Tan Siew Lim, (“Mdm Tan”) and AZ Associates Pte Ltd, (“AZ”), a construction company owned by Lim which was closely associated with CHKC. In its counterclaim, CHKC has accused Lim of misappropriating its cheques, wrongfully manipulating its accounts, overpaying salaries without authority, and unlawfully retaining profits from certain construction projects. CHKC has also added Mdm Tan and AZ to the counterclaim because some of the monies it alleges Lim misappropriated or unlawfully retained were being held by them.

The background facts

The following facts, from [3]–[5], are not really in contention. Neo is about 51 years of age and was educated up to Secondary Four in the Chinese stream. His father started the family business in timber in the 1950s. Neo, (the second youngest son), and his three brothers helped their father in the timber business. In 1982, the family company, Chip Hup Timber Pte Ltd (“CH Timber”) was incorporated to take over the business. In October 1983, Neo and his brother Neo Kok Ching (“Ching”) incorporated Chip Hup Hup Kee Trading Pte Ltd, which was subsequently renamed CHKC, to venture into the construction business. In July 1989, Neo and two of his brothers incorporated Chip Hup Holding Pte Ltd (“CHH”). By then, Neo’s father had retired, leaving the family business to his 4 sons. In July 1989, Neo also incorporated Chippel Overseas Supplies Pte Ltd (“COS”) to trade in building materials. A few years after Neo’s father passed away in January 1993, two of his brothers left the family business and transferred their interests to Neo. According to Neo, his brother Ching also wanted to leave and concentrate on his own business, but since Neo needed at least 2 shareholders and directors, Ching stayed on for the time being.

Lim comes from Malaysia, is about 46 years of age and holds a Masters of Science in Construction Technology. Lim has always worked in the construction industry. After he graduated, he worked for about 1 year in Kuala Lumpur. He then came down to Singapore and worked for a few months in Uni Consultants before joining Heng Mah Construction Ltd (“Heng Mah”). In the 4 years that he was at Heng Mah, Lim did well. He first joined them as a site engineer. He said he was very serious about his work and totally committed to it. Within 9 months of joining, his boss noticed this and promoted him to project manager and about a year later he was promoted to general manager of Heng Mah. Heng Mah at that time was one of about 30 G8 contractors in Singapore, i.e. they could tender for building projects of unlimited value. Heng Mah also held a G7 rating for civil engineering projects, i.e. they could tender up to $50 million for civil engineering projects. Heng Mah did project work as a main contractor, whereas CHKC mostly did work as a subcontractor of the main contractor.

Neo said he met Lim around 1994. Prior to Lim joining CHKC, Neo was doing smaller scale civil engineering projects, mainly building roads, culverts and drainage works. Neo had plans to go into construction on a larger scale. As he said, he managed to secure a project for a lecture hall for the National Technological University around August 1994 and later a project from the Housing Development Board for 608 units. Neo needed someone to manage such projects. Although this was not seriously in contention, insofar as it is, I find that Neo sought Lim out in or around August 1994 having heard of his good work at Heng Mah. Neo promised Lim at least equal or better terms of employment than Lim then had at Heng Mah. Lim was given a Letter of Appointment as General Manager of CHKC in November 1994 with a salary of $7,000 a month which would be reviewed annually. As Lim received a bonus of $200,000 from Heng Mah for the years 1991–1993, Neo also gave Lim the same bonus at CHKC as well as an E-class Mercedes car (Lim opted for a second hand Mercedes car). Neo gave Lim a free hand to and Lim built up a team in CHKC recruiting some of his ex-colleagues at Heng Mah.

Before me, Neo downplayed Lim’s role in CHKC, saying he was a mere employee whom he could easily replace. However, it is obvious, and I so find, that Lim was good at his job. In 1994, CHKC’s revenue was only $6.6 million and it made a loss of about $730,000. In 1995, the revenue had almost doubled to $12.7 million and it made a profit of $728,000. In 1996, the revenue shot up more than fourfold to $59.1 million and CHKC made a profit of $1.85 million. In 1995, the revenue was $59.5 million and the profit was $1.12 million. I find that it was due to Lim’s ability that CHKC managed to take on its many projects and increase its revenues so dramatically. In time to come, Lim was given the title Projects Director and then Executive Director although he was never formally appointed a director of CHKC. Lim did not hold any shares in CHKC.

The secret to CHKC’s ability to carry out its work and churn out its revenue was its ability to source cheap but skilled labour from China. (AZ, which was owned and managed by Lim and did work in connection with CHKC, similarly relied on Chinese workers). At the height of their project activity, there were about 1,500 workers from China on CHKC and AZ’s records and over 1,000 workers from 1999 to most of 2002.¹ Neo claims that at the peak of construction activity around 1999, CHKC and AZ had 1,800 foreign workers.² Neo had a contact called Wu Xue Feng (“Wu”) who worked in a company in China called the Beijing Residential Development Company (“BRDC”). Wu was Neo’s source for skilled Chinese labour. In 1995, BRDC set up Zhu-Zhong Construction Singapore Pte Ltd, (“ZZC”) with Wu as its director. These Chinese workers had their own supervisors and foremen who were also fellow Chinese nationals. I find that Neo and Wu worked closely together in deploying these skilled workers from China, who came at a comparatively low price, for CHKC’s projects. I also find, having heard all the evidence, that Neo kept tight and close personal control over this Chinese labour element of the business and Lim was not involved to any appreciable degree in this aspect of the business. Neo dealt directly with Wu, without consulting Lim, and later with Wu’s deputy here, Zhang Guilin (“Zhang”). I accept Zhang’s evidence on this score. Lim’s involvement was mainly on the operational or projects side where it was more a question of labour requirements for the projects. It is not disputed that there were regular Monday meetings at CHKC throughout the relevant periods chaired by Neo with Lim representing the operational side and projects and representatives from ZZC representing the Chinese labour element.

It will be noticed that although the revenue of CHKC shot up dramatically after Lim came on board, its profits continued to remain at very low levels. Strangely, in the year 2000, when there was a $6 million drop in revenue, the profits went up to their highest level and similarly for 2001, although the revenue dropped a further $7 million, the profits did not correspondingly drop:³

Year	Revenue	Profit/(Loss)
1994	$6,600,000	($730,000)
1995	$12,700,000	$728,000
1996	$59,100,000	1,850,000
1997	$59,500,000	$1,120,000
1998	$78,800,000	$1,070,000
1999	$51,800,000	$1,900,000
2000	$45,547,000	$3,231,000
2001	$38,300,000	$2,110,000
2002	$36,853,000	$472,000
2003	$42,900,000	$446,000
2004	$57,586,000	$284,000
2005	$46,200,000	$166,000
2006	$13,200,000	($20,600,000)

Three things should be noted, and I so find, from this pattern of revenue and profit/loss: The reason for the low profits in spite of the large jumps in revenue is that Neo and Lim started to implement various nefarious schemes enabling them to siphon out large sums of money from CHKC. Hence the profits were always at an artificially low level. There is also a reason for the spike in profits in 2000 and 2001. There was an idea to carry out a listing. There was accordingly a reorganisation of the ‘Chip Hup’ companies in July 1998....