Fraud Charges Against Singaporean Oil Trader Dropped After His Death

The founder of a Singaporean oil trading firm that collapsed amidst a financial crime scandal has died, his attorneys told a court earlier this month. 

Xie Chun, an experienced oil trader who founded ZenRock Commodities, was accused of fraud in connection with his company's collapse. His firm failed and was placed under judicial management in May 2020, and at the time it had about $600 million in debt. Its problems came to light at about the same time as the notorious implosion of Hin Leong Trading, the family-run bunker shipping and brokering firm that allegedly cheated several major banks out of billions of dollars.  

In 2022, Xin was charged with forgery, breach of trust and cheating valued at more than $100 million. Along with his operations executive Zhang Taiming, he faced a second case of alleged forgery that targeted Bank of China for $54 million in fraudulent loans in early 2020, just as the pandemic began. The two executives also allegedly defrauded Credit Agricole out of $17 million.  

Earlier this month, upon application from Xie's attorneys, a Singaporean criminal court abated (withdrew) all charges against Xie due to his death. The circumstances of his passing were not detailed. 

Zhang's trial remains pending, and proceedings begin on February 7.