S'pore commercial crime team completes probe into APP
S'pore commercial crime team completes probe into APP
Dow Jones, Singapore
Singapore's commercial crime investigators have finished a lengthy probe into troubled Asia Pulp & Paper, which remains embroiled in controversy after stopping nearly all payments on its US$13.9 billion debt two years ago.
The Commercial Affairs Department said the investigation has been concluded, and it is "determining the appropriate course of action."
"It is not desirable for CAD to elaborate further as it will jeopardize our further actions," police spokeswoman Audrey Ang said late Monday.
Singapore-based APP is controlled by Indonesia's Widjaja family, with operations in Indonesia and China.
APP came under the CAD's microscope in late 2001 following accusations by some creditors and investors that the company pursued some transactions that led to huge financial losses.
Those transactions included derivatives deals that cost APP $220 million, and the sale of $1 billion in goods to several British Virgin Islands-listed trading companies for which APP said it was never paid.
APP and foreign creditors have been at loggerheads since the company, Asia's largest pulp-and-paper firm outside Japan, two years ago stopped making most payments on debt totaling $13.9 billion owed to hundreds of banks, bondholders, pension funds and other creditors around the world.
The $13.9 billion also includes debt extended by APP's Singapore holding companies and entities in China that aren't part of current negotiations on APP's debt restructuring.
Last month, APP and its main creditors signed a nonbinding agreement on how to restructure $6.7 billion owed by its Indonesian units, a move that could lead to the signing of a legally binding accord later this year.
The company signed the agreement with the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency, or IBRA, to which APP owes $1.2 billion, and representatives of the export credit agencies of the U.S. and 10 other nations, which are owed a total of $1 billion.