Former Hyflux CEO and five accused will not testify — Channel NewsAsia
In Singapore, former Hyflux water treatment company chief executive Olivia Lum Ooi Lin and five other former executives will not testify in their own defence at trial. They are accused of allegedly failing to disclose to investors material information about electricity sales under the Tuaspring desalination project, Channel NewsAsia reports.
The prosecution has completed presenting its case in the trial, hearings in which began in August 2025. On October 21, lawyers for the six accused told the court that they would not submit a no-case-to-answer application. After that, Chief District Judge Toh Han Li called on the accused to present their defence.
Defence position
Lawyers for the 65-year-old Lum and the other accused said their clients would not testify personally. Instead, the defence will jointly call an expert witness. A conference has been scheduled for November 23, during which the next hearing dates are to be determined. After that, the defence will present its case.
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Also involved in the case alongside Lum are former Hyflux chief financial officer Cho Wee Peng and former independent directors Teo Kiang Kok, Christopher Murugasu, Goh Chee Chong and Lee Joo Hai.
Essence of the case
The prosecution is proceeding with two charges against Lum under the Securities and Futures Act. The first concerns a S$200 million public offering of securities in which, according to the prosecution, information about electricity sales was omitted. The second concerns her alleged consent, as chief executive, to the intentional failure to provide the exchange with information related to those sales. Four other charges against Lum have been stood down or are not being considered in this trial.
According to the prosecution, Hyflux presented Tuaspring as its second and largest seawater desalination plant in the Tuas area. At the same time, the company allegedly did not disclose that water sales to national agency PUB at a very low price were planned to be financed by a new business selling electricity from the power plant. The unsuccessful entry into Singapore's electricity market, according to the prosecution, contributed to the company's collapse and affected about 34,000 investors, who were owed a total of S$900 million under perpetual securities and preference shares.
