Trek 2000 chairman, others involved in potential breaches of Singapore laws: forensic accountants

SINGAPORE – Forensic accountants from RSM Corporate Advisory have found potential breaches of various Singapore laws at Trek 2000 International and the involvement of current and former senior company officers, including current chairman and chief executive Henn Tan.

Among other things, RSM raised issues involving possible round-tripping transactions, fabrication and alteration of transaction documents, as well as possible fraudulent and erroneous claims under the Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) tax scheme.

RSM found that certain sales to two companies, T-Data Systems and S-Com Solutions (Hong Kong), were not properly justified, and round-tripping transactions caused overstatements of revenue, costs of sales and profits.

Computer servers that were obtained for free were also sold to T-Data for US$400,000, and in turn sold to a subsidiary of Trek 2000 at the same price, and claims were made under the PIC scheme for the purchase of the servers.

Chairman Mr Tan, Gurcharan Singh (former CFO), Poo Teng Pin (former group director of R&D) and Foo Kok Wah (president of operations, sales and customised solutions division) were involved, RSM said in an exchange filing late on Monday night (April 23).

Source : http://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/trek-2000-chairman-others-involved-in-potential-breaches-of-singapore

Record profits for Singapore’s top 1,000 companies

Big firms gain from efforts to raise productivity and invest in technology; SMEs are emerging from a difficult period

FOR more than three decades the Singapore 1000 (S1000) has ranked the nation’s largest 1,000 companies by their financial performance. Now in its 31st year, it is ranked alongside the Singapore SME 1000 (SME1000) and Singapore International 100 rankings (SI100).

The current 2018 rankings (based on financials from June 1, 2016 – May 31, 2017) confirm the strength of Singapore’s corporate sector. The top 1,000 companies in Singapore delivered a record combined profit S$182.8 billion, an increase of 10.5 per cent compared to last year.

This record result comes at the end of a five-year period during which the combined profits of the top 1,000 companies increased by a healthy S$36.0 billion.

A remarkable aspect of this year’s record profit result is that it was achieved on the back of a largely flat turnover performance. The combined turnover of the S1000 companies increased by just 1.1 per cent to S$2.79 trillion in the 2018 rankings.

Source : https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/hub/singapore-1000/record-profits-for-singapores-top-1000-companies

Singapore Grand Prix 2018

The ‘not to be missed’ Singapore Grand Prix: 14/15/16 September 2018! More information here singaporegp.sg

10 stunning views of Singapore

Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery – Singapore

Tooth relic Temple, China Town, Singapore

Keong Saik Street Singapore Doors

Night view of Gardens by the bay, Singapore

Singapore Skyline, Night

Singapore harbour at night

New Year Fireworks 2013, Marina Bay Sands Singapore

The trees VI, Singapore

Singapore harbour at night

Singapore city skyline

About : Franck Peltier, Franck Peltier Singapour, Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, Singapore, Singapore architecture, Singapore buildings, Singapore Franck Peltier, Singapore tourisme

Students from Singapore and Kyoto design objects inspired by each other’s cities

Bithumb, South Korea’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, has recently revealed plans to issue its own token, Bithumb Coin, in an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), local news outlet TokenPost reports Thursday.

Two groups of students from Singapore and Kyoto exchanged photographs of their contrasting cities, before using them as a reference point to design 17 objects representative of the location’s character.

The Exchanged Forms project was established by two professors from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Kyoto Institute of Technology (KIT) to bring together young designers from two « distant realities. »

The collaboration went forward without the two groups ever meeting in person. Instead, they took photographs of objects and sceneries that are typical in their country, and sent them to the students in the other city, paired with a short description.

Each student then chose one of these images and used it to create their own interpretation of the foreign country.

Source : https://www.dezeen.com/2018/04/19/exchanged-forms-exhibition-singapore-kyoto-milan-design-week/

South Korean Crypto Exchange Bithumb To Issue Own Token In Singapore

According to the report, the Bithumb token sale will be conducted in Singapore since ICOs are banned in South Korea. Bithumb is reportedly focusing on large-scale investors rather than individual investors. Bithumb did not confirm when the coin is expected to be launched, or the size of the venture, according to TokenPost.

Bithumb is not the first crypto exchange to launch its own token. In January, Chinese crypto exchange Huobi announced its plans to issue Huobi Token (HT) that would be capped at 500 mln tokens. Huobi noted that the token would not be an ICO, claiming that only active users of the trading platform would be able to receive HT.

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced a ban on ICOs in late September 2017, citing increased risks of financial scams as a motivator. In March, Cointelegraph reported that the South Korean government revealed plans to local financial authorities to legalize ICOs. While the FSC remains skeptical toward ICOs, local financial authorities are attempting to authorize them by enabling strict Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering systems.

Source : https://cointelegraph.com/news/south-korean-crypto-exchange-bithumb-to-issue-own-token-in-singapore

Singapore, UK to commemorate founding of modern Singapore with new partnership

The partnership will mark the 200th anniversary of the founding of modern Singapore by Sir Stamford Raffles.

With the 200th anniversary of the founding of modern Singapore coming up in 2019, Singapore and the United Kingdom will commemorate the bicentennial with a “new and substantive partnership”.

This was discussed during Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s first formal bilateral meeting with UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday (Apr 19).

Mr Lee is in London for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which formally opened on Thursday.

Details of the partnership are not yet clear, but the key idea behind it is to do something significant to mark the bicentennial.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/singapore-uk-to-commemorate-founding-of-modern-singapore-with-10155926

BPCL plans to start oil trading office in Singapore

BPCL could become the second Indian state refiner after Indian Oil Corp to open a Singapore trading outpost as Indian buyers hunt for competitively priced spot cargoes from the Asian oil-trading hub.

Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd plans to start a trading office in Singapore in the near future to procure crude for its refineries and trade oil products, its head of refineries, R. Ramachandran, said late on Wednesday.

« We will open office in the near future, » he said, without specifying a timeline.

However, a company source, who declined to be named, said the office may start operations by September.

BPCL could become the second Indian state refiner after Indian Oil Corp to open a Singapore trading outpost as Indian buyers hunt for competitively priced spot cargoes from the Asian oil-trading hub.

Source : https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/bpcl-plans-to-start-oil-trading-office-in-singapore-2552449.html

Singapore proposes allowing some Airbnb type rentals but with cap

SINGAPORE – Singapore proposed on Monday allowing private home owners to let out their property for short-term rentals but with an annual cap of 90 days a year – part of a consultation process welcomed by rental service Airbnb.

Private homes in Singapore are currently subject to a minimum rental period of three consecutive months, and such strict rules make the city-state one of the tougher markets in which Airbnb operates.

Two Airbnb hosts were fined S$60,000 ($45,800) each by a local court this month for unauthorized short-term letting.

Singapore’s proposal to limit rentals days is broadly in line with measures introduced by other cities such as Paris, London and Amsterdam. The city state has begun seeking public feedback on the proposal and other measures to regulate the sector.

Airbnb, which previously called Singapore’s regulatory framework “untenable” after news of the illegal rentals broke late last year, said on Monday it welcomed the consultation.

“We’re committed to reasonable solutions that will allow responsible home sharing to thrive in Singapore and welcome the opportunity to provide feedback through the consultation process,” said Mich Goh, head of public policy for Airbnb Singapore.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/article/us-singapore-airbnb/singapore-proposes-allowing-some-airbnb-type-rentals-but-with-cap-idUSKBN1HN07Y

Singapore renews its focus on engagement

SINGAPORE – As human resource development’s influence grows, so does human capital development.

SINGAPORE is a magnet for global talent, and its business community is exceptionally receptive to advanced business ideas, no matter where they originate. That’s unusual in Asia, which tends towards hierarchical, traditional management structures. Still, it hasn’t been until fairly recently – the last 10 years or so – that Singapore’s business culture has broadly incorporated workplace engagement.

Employee engagement refers to workers’ enthusiasm for their jobs and their emotional attachment to their company, and it must be measured and supported to be sustained. For a decade, engagement was a known development tool, but business leaders only began emphasising engagement in the past few years.

Before that, leaders didn’t do much with the metrics they received or applied them too randomly to be effective. Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report bears this new emphasis on engagement out: only 9 per cent of Singaporeans were engaged in 2011-2012, compared with 23 per cent in 2014-2016.

Source : https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/singapore-renews-its-focus-on-engagement