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Denmark's State Prosecutor for Serious Economic and International Crime (SOIK) charged Lars Moller - the former CEO of OW Bunker's Singapore subsidiary, Dynamic Oil Trading (DOT) - with fraud on Thursday whilst clearing the parent company's management of any criminal wrongdoing.

"Following the OW Bunker Group's financial collapse in November 2014, SOIK has investigated the conditions in and around the OW Bunker Group. Based on the extensive and complicated investigation, an earlier director of a Singapore subsidiary has now been charged," said Deputy State Prosecutor Nirls Vejlby Hansen in an announcement where the name of the defendant was not mentioned, but it was confirmed that reporting restrictions had not been imposed.

The former DOT director is being accused of extending DKK 800 million in unauthorised credit to Singapore firm Tankoil Marine Services prior to OW Bunker filing for bankruptcy on November 7, 2014.

"He did not have a power of attorney to do that," claims Niels Vejlby Hansen.

SOIK also revealed that criminal proceedings would not be initiated against the management or other employees of parent company OW Bunker.

"There had been several suspects in the mother company but our investigation shows that this has happened in the subsidiary," Hansen told Reuters.

Moller's lawyer, Arvid Andersen, was quoted in the Danish media on Thursday as saying that he was "surprised" that SOIK had chosen to bring charges against his client for misconduct.

In the past, Anderson has gone on record to say that "it was not my client's job to report what each company owed OW Bunker, and therefore not Tankoil", when asked about reporting credit limits to senior management in Denmark.

Other cases

In a separate lawsuit, which was filed in March 2016, a consortium of 26 Danish institutional investors, including ATP and PFA, has brought criminal charges against the bankruptcy estate of OW Bunker, its senior management, as well as the private equity fund Altor, which was behind the initial public offering (IPO) of OW Bunker in March 2014.

In the claim, which is for DKK 769 million in damages, the plaintiffs argue that OW Bunker did not act correctly during the disclosure of information about itself prior to its IPO and that investors were therefore misled during the purchase of shares.

Additionally, five of the investors (PFA Kapitalforening, PFA Invest, Mermaid Nordic, Gudme Raaschou and Kapitalforeningen Laerernes Pension Invest) have filed a second suit claiming damages of DKK 67 million against OW Bunker, its former chairman, deputy, and management, for allegedly failing to comply with exchange disclosure requirements in the autumn of 2014.

In another case, a group of 2,400 private investors, named OW Bunker-Investor, announced in December 2016 that they were suing OW Bunker's former management and Altor for losses of more than DKK 321 million.