Fullerton Health’s three co-founders slapped with corruption charges

FULLERTON Healthcare Corporation’s (Fullerton Health) three co-founders, including its former majority owner David Sin, were charged on Thursday (Feb 8) with corruption and falsifying or conspiring to falsify nearly half a million dollars in entertainment claims to defraud the healthcare company.

Sin and Fullerton Health’s former directors Daniel Chan and Michael Tan were alleged to have committed these offences to provide gratification and bribes to Collin Chiew, a former chief executive of insurance broker Aon Risk Solutions in Singapore, according to a statement by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB).

Sin faces five counts, while Tan faces four and Chan, one, for conspiring to corruptly give gratification totalling S$668,000 to Chiew over several occasions between 2015 and 2018, and in 2019.

These were allegedly provided as inducements to advance the business interests of Fullerton Health with Aon Singapore and later, with AIA Hong Kong, a company Chiew joined as director of corporate solutions agency.

From 2016 to 2019, Chan allegedly falsified entertainment claims to defraud Fullerton Health into paying him about S$440,666 for entertainment expenses when the amount actually incurred was just under S$170,000. Chan allegedly used the amounts claimed to pay bribes to Chiew.

Chan faces eight counts of falsifying accounts, while Tan and Sin face one count and eight counts, respectively, for allegedly conspiring with Chan to falsify accounts.

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The co-accused Chiew, a 56-year-old Singaporean, faces four counts of corruptly obtaining these gratifications and one money laundering charge for allegedly using criminal proceeds to purchase a landed property.

All four men were present in the State Court on Thursday for the mention before District Judge Brenda Tan. Bail was set at S$200,000 each for the three Fullerton Health directors.

Tang Shangwei of WongPartnership, defence counsel for Sin, 44, said his client intends to contest the charges and pushed for a pre-trial conference for “close monitoring”. A pre-trial conference was set for Mar 7.

Tan’s lawyer Derek Kang of Cairnhill Law sought to adjourn the case for a further mention, citing that “this whole thing was so sudden”.

A similar application to adjourn the mention was also made by Chan, who is represented by Muralli Rajaram of K&L Gates Straits Law.

The judge set Mar 11 for the case to be heard again.

Saga continues

The latest development marks an interesting twist to the drama that has long dogged the private healthcare solutions company Fullerton Health, as well as the trio.

Sin used to be credited for transforming the company from a Singapore-centric entity to a pan-Asian platform. He did this alongside Tan and Chan, both medical doctors and the company’s minority shareholders then.

One high point was in 2015 when Fullerton Health stirred quite a market buzz as it was busily readying up for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Singapore Exchange. That turned out to be a pipe dream – the IPO was shelved amid controversy sparked by anonymous complaints to the regulators over the company’s business practices.

Then three years ago, when healthcare assets were all the rage during the Covid-19 pandemic, the then-owners, led by Sin, who was at that time also the company’s president and deputy chairman, put Fullerton Health on the block.

Around then too, there were mutterings of financial strain facing the company that provides corporations with health insurance plans and access to a network of healthcare providers, and also provides primary care and diagnostics.

Simmering friction and differences over how the sale of Fullerton Health should be executed turned the friends to foes. The bitter shareholder feud that had also played out in court appeared to have blown any potential sale of Fullerton Health, which was long in the works and was being advised by Bank of America Corp.

According to a reliable source, RRJ Capital, a Hong Kong-based private equity fund and Fullerton Health’s largest creditor, is now in the company’s driver seat, having converted its debt to equity.

On Thursday, all three former partners were present in the court room. Sin was first to have his charges read to him, while Tan and Chan stood next to one another as their case was being heard.