Olivia Lum and five co-accused will not take the stand in Hyflux trial, to call expert witness
Their lawyers said they would jointly call an expert witness. Judge Toh Han Li called on the six accused to give their defence after the prosecution closed…
Olivia Lum and five co-accused in the Hyflux trial will not take the stand in their own defence, according to CNA. Their lawyers said they would instead jointly call an expert witness.
On Wednesday (Oct 21), the lawyers for the six accused told the court how they would approach their defence, and said they would not argue that there was "no case to answer". That kind of submission asks the judge to throw out a case at the close of the prosecution's evidence, before the defence has to open its case. The six accused were then told by Principal District Judge Toh Han Li to enter their defence.
Dates for the rest of the trial will be scheduled at a conference set for Nov 23, after which the defence will begin presenting its case.
Prosecution has closed its case
The prosecution has finished presenting its case in the trial, which began in August 2025. At issue is the claimed omission in 2011, by Hyflux personnel who were then senior, to give investors important details about the Tuaspring water desalination project.
The project was presented by Hyflux, a listed company, as its largest and second seawater desalination facility in Tuas. What it purportedly failed to mention was that a new venture selling power from a plant it was going to construct would cover the cost of supplying water to national water agency PUB at a very low price. The prosecution says the failed venture into Singapore's power market helped bring the company down and hurt roughly 34,000 investors who held perpetual securities and preference shares, to whom S$900 million in total was owed.
The accused and their charges
Lum is 65. Among the six, the most charges fall on her, and the prosecution is going ahead with two of them under the Securities and Futures Act. Four further charges against her have been stood down or set aside during this trial.
The other five accused are ex-chief financial officer Cho Wee Peng, 57, along with ex-independent directors Teo Kiang Kok, 70, Christopher Murugasu, 67, Gay Chee Cheong, 70, and Lee Joo Hai, 70. The single charge Cho faces at trial alleges that, while serving as Hyflux's CFO, he connived in an intentional failure to inform the securities exchange of the electricity sales information. The four former independent directors each face two similar charges.
A conviction for consenting to the intentional failure by Hyflux to disclose the electricity sale information to the securities exchange could bring Lum a jail term of up to seven years, a fine of up to S$250,000, or both. Should she be convicted of offering securities to the public while leaving out details about the electricity sales, the penalty could be up to two years in jail, a fine of up to S$150,000, or both. Cho could face up to seven years in jail, a fine of up to S$250,000, or both, if convicted of conniving in the failure to notify the securities exchange.
Rajsekar Kuppuswami Mitta, a former Hyflux independent director and the seventh person in the case, pleaded guilty and was fined S$90,000 in 2025.
Lum is represented by lawyers from Davinder Singh Chambers, Cho by a team from Rajah & Tann, and the four former independent directors by Shook Lin & Bok.
