Denmark’s state prosecutor has charged the former manager of OW Bunker’s Singapore subsidiary with fraud, but cleared the Danish management of the failed marine fuel oil supplier of any criminal wrongdoing. OW Bunker filed for bankruptcy in Denmark in November 2014 – seven months after listing with an eight-figure valuation – after suffering severe losses at its Singapore business Dynamic Oil Trading.
The prosecutor said on July 13th that the former manager, a Danish citizen, had been charged with committing fraud of agent by granting credit outside his mandate worth more than DKr800m ($125m).
The prosecutor said it had not found any legal grounds for the criminal prosecution of other members of management within the OW Bunker group. State prosecutor for serious economic and international crime, Niels Vejlby Hansen, told Reuters that “there had been several suspects in the mother company but our investigation shows that this has happened in the subsidiary”. Hansen said claims for damages could be put forward as part of the trial although the judge could reject claims if they became “too complicated” and instead refer the matter to a civil court.
A group of 26 institutional investors, including two of Denmark’s largest pension fund, have taken legal action against the former management of OW Bunker for allegedly misleading them in its 2014 initial public offering.