Chief of People’s Voice party Lim Tean disputes allegedly unpaid loan of US$150,000

The chief of new party People’s Voice, Lim Tean, appealed in court yesterday against the issuance issuance of a writ of summons over a loan of US$150,000 (S$205,720), that he had allegedly not repaid.

A Chinese national, Huang Min supposedly agreed to lend Mr Lim US$150,000 in September of 2013. He also alleged that Mr Lim agreed to repay the amount by November 30 that year.

According to court documents, Mr Huang transferred the money to Mr Lim but Mr Lim did not repay the money by the agreed date.

In August this year, State Courts Deputy Registrar Regina Lim Siew Mei ruled that Mr Lim, who is a lawyer, has to repay Mr Huang.

During a summary judgement on November 22, District Judge Tan May Tee said, “On or around Feb 21, 2017, the defendant e-mailed the plaintiff to say, among other things, that he was ‘making arrangements to start paying (the plaintiff) back within the next two months”.

“The defendant also stated that he regretted the ‘long delay’, was ‘very sorry for the inconvenience caused’, and assured the plaintiff that the loan would be repaid”, Judge Tan said.

Mr Lim has appealed to the High Court regarding this case, as he denied Mr Huang’s claim “in its entirety”.

The judge said that according to Mr Lim, the Chinese national had expressed his desire to buy iron ore from Mr Lim’s Indonesian mine through a firm called Falcon Resources (FRC).

“In or around September 2013, the defendant had agreed to sell iron ore from his mine to FRC, and requested a down payment of US$150,000 for the sale of the first cargo with details of the sale to be finalised and completed with the plaintiff and FRC,” Judge Tan said.

Mr Lim also alleged that Mr Huang wanted the down payment to be termed as a loan “for his own internal purposes”.

In her summary judgment, Judge Tan said: “On my examination of the documents… it was clear to me that they were inadequate to support the defendant’s assertion that the sum of US$150,000 was a down payment for the sale of iron ore to the plaintiff’s company.”

She also said Mr Lim’s e-mail was an “unequivocal admission” of the loan.

TISG has reached out to Mr Lim for comment and for clarification.

However, at the time of writing, Mr Lim continues to be active on social media, with no indication or posts about the pending case.

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obbana@theindependent.sg