OCBC closes account linked to alleged scammer

OCBC, Singapore’s second-largest bank, closed the Cicada restaurant’s account, which left it unable to pay employees, the Straits Times cited Raymond Lim, a director of Cicada YJL, as saying.

SINGAPORE: A restaurant linked to the Singapore businessman at the heart of an alleged US$1bil (RM4.22bil) scam has closed down after Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) terminated its bank account, the Straits Times reported yesterday, citing a director of the restaurant.

OCBC, Singapore’s second-largest bank, closed the Cicada restaurant’s account, which left it unable to pay employees, the Straits Times cited Raymond Lim, a director of Cicada YJL, as saying. The account closure came after the arrest of Ng Yu Zhi, who has been accused of fraud and cheating investors, according to the report.

Ng owns 30% of Cicada and had gifted the majority holdings to a Chinese female friend, the newspaper said.

Two other restaurants, Nishikane and Sake Labo, are also for sale and its operator Envy Hospitality Holdings is seeking S$1.5mil (US$1.1mil or RM4.64mil) for each, according to the newspaper, without saying where it obtained the information.

Ng, 34, has been charged with orchestrating what police describe as one of Singapore’s biggest suspected investment frauds, whereby investors put in about S$1.46bil (RM4.55bil) into a nickel trading scheme run by his Envy group of companies. ― Bloomberg