SINGAPORE – LAM Trade Finance Group II, in which US bank Jefferies has a minority stake, applied on Sept 7 for a freezing injunction against Radiant World and its founder in Singapore, the city-state’s Supreme Court website showed.
The filing adds to mounting challenges facing the iron ore trader, as some banks have frozen its accounts and trading houses severed ties on concerns that invoices provided to its banks may not have been valid. Radiant World has denied wrongdoing.
Last week, Reuters reported that the Jefferies-linked fund had secured a freezing order over the trader from a British court.
A hearing in the Singapore case will take place in the city-state’s Supreme Court on Sept 9. No further details on what is being sought in the filing were immediately available.
Along with entities of Radiant World and founder Pinkesh Nahar, the Singapore case names iron ore trader Sapphire Minmetals and that firm’s chairman Rakesh Sethi, the filing showed.
Radiant World, Sapphire Minmetals, Nahar and Sethi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The chief executive of commodity giant Glencore, Gary Nagle, said in August that the company considered Radiant World and Sapphire Minmetals to be part of the same group, although Sethi has denied this is the case.
Trade-finance firm Incomlend is also suing Radiant World and Nahar in Singapore, while Mizuho Bank has taken legal measures to remove management of Radiant World’s Singapore unit, Bloomberg News reported.
The Singapore police force said in August that it was investigating Radiant World after receiving reports on the company, without giving further details. REUTERS
