SINGAPORE, Feb 28 — The ongoing legal and public dispute between property tycoon Kwek Leng Beng and his son, Sherman Kwek, took another turn on Thursday (February 27), with the younger Kwek pointing to his father’s associate as the root of the conflict within City Developments Limited (CDL).
Dr Catherine Wu, 65, an adviser to the board of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (M&C), a subsidiary of CDL, was singled out by Sherman Kwek, who accused her of “interfering in matters going well beyond her scope” and exerting “enormous influence,” according to a report published in Channel News Asia.
“These matters have troubled us as directors. Due to her long relationship with the chairman, efforts that were made to manage the situation were done sensitively, but to no avail,” said Sherman Kwek in a statement.
He said that, following legal advice, resolutions were proposed to terminate Dr Wu’s advisory agreement with the M&C board and affirm that she has no authority to influence or advise CDL and M&C’s directors, management, or staff.
“We considered them to be necessary to protect the interests of the shareholders and relevant staff of the CDL Group, and to restore proper corporate governance and accountability,” he added.
CDL, one of Singapore’s largest property companies, is controlled by the Kwek family.
The internal conflict became public on Wednesday when CDL’s 84-year-old executive chairman, Kwek Leng Beng, announced that he was taking legal action against his son over alleged governance lapses and an attempted boardroom power grab.
Calling his son’s actions a “coup,” the elder Kwek said he was seeking to restore corporate integrity.
Later that day, he issued a second statement saying his son and other directors acting with him had agreed to cease further action following a court hearing.
Sherman Kwek, 49, responded on Thursday, saying his father’s claims failed to provide a “full picture” of the dispute.
“The chairman’s claim that there is an ‘attempted coup’ by the majority directors to consolidate control of CDL’s board is not only incorrect, but it also distracts from the real issue. There has been no attempt by us to oust the chairman,” he said.
Dr Wu was previously involved in a 2018 employment tribunal case in London, where she was described as Kwek Leng Beng’s personal assistant, despite not being an employee and being paid personally by the chairman.
The judgment noted that she acted as his “eyes and ears” due to his age.
The resolutions to terminate Dr Wu’s advisory agreement were passed by the majority of CDL’s board on February 21.
On February 25, Kwek Leng Beng filed court papers, and the minority directors, including himself, sought an urgent court hearing to challenge the resolutions, but their request to have them reversed was unsuccessful.
Sherman Kwek accused the minority directors of attempting to “ambush” the majority directors with the court hearing.
“It has not been disclosed that the minority directors, comprising the chairman, Mr Kwek Leng Beng, Mr Philip Yeo, Mr Colin Ong and Mr Chong Yoon Chou, served five of us court papers just after noon on Feb 26, 2025 for a hearing that was held only two and a half hours later,” he said.
“Without giving us the opportunity to respond in time to give the court the full picture, the minority directors tried to get the court to grant interim injunctions to restrain the majority directors on the board of CDL, comprising six independent directors and myself, from implementing a number of resolutions, to restrain two independent directors from exercising powers as directors and to reverse a number of resolutions that had been passed by the majority directors on the board of CDL.”
He rejected his father’s assertion that the minority directors had succeeded in their court application, calling it “most unfortunate.”
“What in fact happened was that because the majority directors did not have the opportunity to present our case, we voluntarily offered undertakings, as defendants often do in such urgent applications, to preserve the status quo until a full hearing where we would have that opportunity.”
He noted that the court explicitly stated that it was not making any substantive orders on the minority directors’ application, a detail absent from his father’s statement.
“The chairman also did not mention that all the directors, including the chairman and the minority directors, were directed by the court to refrain until the dispute is resolved from doing anything in relation to CDL’s subsidiaries, Singapura Developments (Private) Limited and Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Limited, that would prejudice the other party’s position in the dispute.”
Sherman Kwek also noted that his father did not mention the court questioning the lawyers for the minority directors on whether they had been properly appointed by CDL.
Additionally, he said the court questioned whether the lawyers representing the minority directors had been validly appointed by CDL, leading them to state they would “leave out CDL” for the hearing.
As a result, the lawyers stated they would exclude CDL from the hearing, he said, adding that his group was the one that requested an early full hearing, which the court approved.
“Therefore, despite the attempt to ambush us, the minority directors did not succeed in persuading the court to hear and decide the merits, and in fact ended up on the receiving end of directions themselves and unable to use CDL’s name at the hearing.”