PT Dwiputra v Ho Ming: Recovery of Misappropriated Commission Payments

In a civil suit before the High Court of Singapore, PT Dwiputra Sumber Sukses, an Indonesian trading company, sued Ho Ming Siang, a former employee, for monies had and received and for conversion, alleging that Ho had diverted commission payments from HPD, a Spanish manufacturer, into his own accounts. The court, presided over by Judith Prakash J, found in favor of PT Dwiputra, holding Ho liable for US$201,438 plus interest and costs, determining that Ho had wrongfully retained funds that were rightfully due to his former employer.

1. Case Overview

1.1 Court

High Court

1.2 Outcome

Judgment for the plaintiffs.

1.3 Case Type

Civil

1.4 Judgment Type

Grounds of Decision

1.5 Jurisdiction

Singapore

1.6 Description

Indonesian trading company sues former employee for diverting commission payments. The court found the employee liable for misappropriated funds.

1.7 Decision Date

5 September 2000

2. Parties and Outcomes

Party Name	Role	Type	Outcome	Outcome Type	Counsels
PT Dwiputra Sumber Sukses	Plaintiff	Corporation	Judgment for Plaintiff	Won	Prabhakaran Nair of Ong Tan & Nair Jayanthi Menon of Ong Tan & Nair
Ho Ming Siang	Defendant	Individual	Judgment against Defendant	Lost	Liaw Jin Poh of William Lai & Alan Wong Wan Fairuz Wan Hussin of William Lai & Alan Wong

3. Judges

Judge Name	Title	Delivered Judgment
Judith Prakash	Judge	Yes

4. Counsels

Counsel Name	Organization
Prabhakaran Nair	Ong Tan & Nair
Jayanthi Menon	Ong Tan & Nair
Liaw Jin Poh	William Lai & Alan Wong
Wan Fairuz Wan Hussin	William Lai & Alan Wong

4. Facts

Plaintiffs are an Indonesian trading company.
Defendant was employed by the plaintiffs to run its pulp and paper division.
Plaintiffs were appointed as Indonesian agent for HPD, a Spanish manufacturer.
Defendant negotiated the agency agreement with HPD on behalf of the plaintiffs.
Defendant directed HPD to pay commissions to his personal account or to Chemkonsult.
Plaintiffs terminated the defendant's employment after discovering the diverted payments.
Defendant claimed the payments were for bribes to IKPP employees.

5. Formal Citations

PT Dwiputra Sumber Sukses v Ho Ming Siang, Suit 600142/2000, [2000] SGHC 182

6. Timeline

Date	Event
1990-01-01	Plaintiffs came to know the defendant.
1993-01-01	Defendant joined the plaintiff company.
1993-07-22	Plaintiffs appointed as Indonesian agent for HPD.
1994-04-23	Defendant allegedly terminated agency agreement.
1994-08-05	Defendant directed HPD to pay commission to Chemkonsult.
1994-10-01	Defendant's employment with plaintiffs terminated.
1994-11-24	Chemkonsult International Pte Ltd incorporated.
1995-03-23	HPD supplied a list of commission payments to the plaintiffs.
1997-07-29	Plaintiffs demanded commission from HPD.
1997-12-18	Plaintiffs demanded commission from HPD.
1998-09-28	Plaintiffs' solicitors sent letter setting out full claim against the defendant.
2000-09-06	Judgment issued.

7. Legal Issues

Breach of Fiduciary Duty
- Outcome: The court found that the defendant breached his fiduciary duty by diverting funds to his own company.
- Category: Substantive
Conversion
- Outcome: The court found that the defendant wrongfully deprived the plaintiffs of the use and possession of commission due to them and had converted the same to his own use.
- Category: Substantive
Monies Had and Received
- Outcome: The court found that the defendant had received monies for the plaintiffs' use and had failed to pay the monies to them.
- Category: Substantive

8. Remedies Sought

Monetary Damages

9. Cause of Actions

Monies Had and Received
Conversion
Breach of Fiduciary Duty

10. Practice Areas

Commercial Litigation

11. Industries

Pulp and Paper

12. Cited Cases

Case Name	Court	Affirmed	Citation	Jurisdiction	Significance
No cited cases

13. Applicable Rules

Rule Name
No applicable rules

14. Applicable Statutes

Statute Name	Jurisdiction
No applicable statutes

15. Key Terms and Keywords

15.1 Key Terms

Commission
Agency Agreement
Fiduciary Duty
Conversion
Chemkonsult
IKPP
HPD

15.2 Keywords

commission
agency
fiduciary duty
conversion
Indonesia
Singapore

17. Areas of Law

Area Name	Relevance Score
Agency Law	75
Contract Law	70
Fiduciary Duties	65
Fraud and Deceit	60
Breach of Contract	50
Commissions	40

16. Subjects

Agency
Breach of Contract
Fiduciary Duty
Commercial Dispute