Singapore’s Hyflux founder Olivia Lum has gone from being an entrepreneurial darling in the 2000s – bagging numerous business awards and ranking on high-powered lists that featured mostly men – to now facing criminal charges in court over her company’s failure to disclose information to investors.
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On Monday, Lum, 64, arrived at the state courts to stand trial over failure to communicate to investors and the Singapore Exchange information on Tuaspring Integrated Water and Power Project, in the latest controversy surrounding what was once one of the hottest firms in the Asian water market.
The prosecution argued that investors were led to believe that the project was primarily a desalination project and that the power plant was to be built to supply power to the desalination plant but, in reality, the viability of Tuaspring depended on the sale of electricity. This meant that it exposed Hyflux to electricity market risks in what was a brand-new business for the company, according to prosecutors.
These facts were allegedly not disclosed to the investing public, and the omission was purportedly repeated when the offer information statement was released to raise funds from the public, they said.
Lum, represented by senior counsel Davinder Singh, faces a jail term of up to seven years, a fine of up to S$250,000 (US$194,500), or both, if she is convicted of consenting to Hyflux’s intentional failure to disclose the electricity sale information to the securities exchange.
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