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August 25, 2017

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Accused charged for US$32m fake gasoline deals

Source: Agencies | 00:30 UTC+8 August 25, 2017 | Print Edition

CHINESE prosecutors have charged Trafigura’s Singapore division and a Beijing-based staff member for allegedly fabricating gasoline deals with a Chinese oil trading company following a three-year probe, according to a letter of indictment.

Prosecutors in Langfang, in Hebei Province, filed the charges on August 4 against Trafigura (Singapore) Pte Ltd and Tian Meng, its Beijing-based oil marketer, the official document issued by prosecutors shows.

The document charges the Swiss firm and Tian with fraudulently obtaining bank credit via fabricated oil deals.

Prosecutors also charged a second man, Zhang Wei, a Chinese fuel trader, for “conspiring with” Tian in the alleged fraud. He is a shareholder in private Chinese trader Qingdao United Energy.

The charges are the first since police arrested Tian in August 2014 following a complaint to police by Qingdao United Energy, alleging it had lost US$32 million from trade financing deals arranged between Tian and Zhang without its knowledge.

Tian was released on bail last August after two years in a detention center in the northern Chinese city of Cangzhou.

The prosecutor charged Trafigura’s Singapore entity because it was the counterparty of the Qingdao firm in the alleged trade financing deals, according to the document.

An official with Langfang Prosecutor’s Office’s public prosecution division confirmed that Trafigura’s Singapore unit, Tian Meng and Zhang Wei had all been charged, without giving further details.

In a message via WeChat, the founder of Qingdao United Energy, Li Yixin, said: “No matter how powerful a company is, or how eloquently it defends itself, facts are hard to remove.”

Tian and Zhang convinced Qingdao to make two gasoline purchases, but investigators found that they were fake deals and were arranged just to have the Qingdao firm issue bank lines to Trafigura, the prosecutors said.

“After Tian got approval for the deal from Trafigura, Zhang Wei signed a contract with Trafigura in the name of Qingdao United Energy and fabricated the fact that it was purchasing gasoline from Trafigura,” according to the document.

As part of the probe, Chinese authorities have also frozen US$32.9 million that Trafigura Pte Ltd had injected into a metals project jointly owned with Chinese metals producer Jinchuan Group Co Ltd in southwestern China.

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