Peter Tham

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Peter Tham Wing Fai (born in 1949[1]) was a Singaporean stockbroker and the director of Pan-Electric Industries. A failure by him to observe a forward contract agreement that he negotiated with Tan Koon Swan was responsible for the company's collapse in 1985.[2]

Tham left Singapore in 1984, before Pan-El collapsed. In April 1986, he was traced to Seattle in the United States by FBI officials.[3] He flew to Tokyo, from where he was extradited back to Singapore, immediately arrested,[4] and charged with 26 counts of helping Tan Kok Liang to make "fictitious sharetrading transactions."[5] He was eventually sentenced to a total of 10 years in jail—eight in 1986 for forging Pan-Electric share certificates and two in 1988 for criminal breach of trust.[6] In February 1991, he was declared a bankrupt for owing S$ 25 million to various parties.[7]

Tham was released from jail early, in 1992. He divorced his wife, Joyce Aw, whom he had married in 1983, and married Kok Mei Yee in 1995. In 1998, he was in trouble with the law again after Kok alleged that he had beaten her. She also informed the Official Assignee that although he was still officially a bankrupt, he had been keeping a collection of antique longcase clocks and Chinese pottery with a total value of S$400,000 in their Peck Hay Road apartment, without declaring them to the Official Assignee as was required by law.[8] Although his wife later withdrew the private summons charge of assault,[9] he was still being investigated for hiding personal assets and in May 2000, he was charged with hiding about S$ 1.7 million in cash, three cars and other items from the authorities.[7] The trial was adjourned but when the case was next mentioned in September 2000, Tham's lawyer could not contact him and a warrant of arrest was issued for Tham.[1][10]

Tham was later traced to the Indonesian island of Batam, but has since disappeared again. In 2004, his story was re-enacted on an episode of MediaCorp's Missing television series.[11]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Money, women, trouble.", The Straits Times, 17 September 2000. 
  2. ^ "Share-Trading Time Bomb That Toppled An Asian Pyramid / Singapore stock market crisis", Financial Times, 6 December 1985, p. 24. 
  3. ^ "Mr Peter Tham Wing Fai, who is being sought by the authorities in Singapore for his involvement in the financially troubled Pan-Electric Industries, has been traced to the United States.", Lloyd's List International, 4 April 1986, p. 3. 
  4. ^ "Pan-Electric Director Arrested / Peter Tham detained at Singapore airport", Financial Times, 15 April 1986, p. 33. 
  5. ^ "Mr Peter Tham Wing Fai, formerly an employee of Pan Electric, now faces a total of 26 criminal charges, following the addition of a count of criminal breach of trust.", Lloyd's List International, 1 May 1986, p. 14. 
  6. ^ "FORMER PAN-ELECTRIC DIRECTOR JAILED FOR FURTHER TWO YEARS.", Reuters News, 17 September 1988. 
  7. ^ a b KAREN WONG.. "Ex Pan-El director Tham accused of hiding assets.", The Straits Times, 4 May 2000. 
  8. ^ Tan Ooi Boon. "Ex-Pan-El man hit me, says wife.", The Straits Times, 11 April 1998. 
  9. ^ "Ex-director cleared of hitting wife.", The Straits Times, 19 May 1998. 
  10. ^ KAREN WONG.. "Wanted - Ex-director of Pan-Electric Peter Tham.", The Straits Times, 16 September 2000. 
  11. ^ MISSING FORMER DIRECTOR OF PAN-ELECTRIC INDUSTRIES. MediaCorp. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
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