Singapore allows suspect to leave for mother's funeral

The suspended chief executive of debt-ridden jet fuel trader China Aviation Oil (CAO) has been allowed to leave Singapore after Chinese authorities guaranteed his return to stand trial here, a report said yesterday.

Chen Jiulin (陳久霖), who is at the center of the republic's biggest financial scandal in a decade, was granted court permission to return to China to attend his mother's funeral, according to the Today newspaper.

Chen was arrested and charged in June along with four other CAO officials in connection with irregularities leading to the company's near collapse last year.

The Chinese national was charged with 15 counts of cheating and forgery while running the jet-fuel trader, which lost some US$550 million from speculation at the height of energy-price volatility late last year.

Chen was given bail but had previously been barred from leaving the city-state. His mother died on July 16, Today said.