Police in Singapore are now investigating one of the largest iron traders in the world

SINGAPORE: Radiant World is under investigation in Singapore, the city-state’s authorities confirmed on Thursday (Aug 20), following reports made concerning the iron-ore trader.

This comes after a Bloomberg report on Aug 14 that the United States Justice Department (DOJ) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have also launched a probe into the trader, although no charges have been announced as yet.

The company has a significant global footprint, but its primary hub and operational centre are in Singapore. Radiant World also has offices in Geneva, London, Shanghai, Dubai, Connecticut, and Mumbai.

The Singapore Police Force did not comment further regarding the nature of the complaints, nor the person or persons who filed the reports.

Representatives from Radiant World in Singapore have declined to comment on the investigation.

The Bloomberg report said that there have been allegations concerning falsified trade documents that are under probe by the US DOJ, while the CFTC, in a separate case, is looking into Radiant World’s trades.

A number of firms have ceased trading with the trader, including Vitol and Cargill. The Anglo-Swiss multinational company Glencore has also stopped new business with Radiant World. KBC and Deutsche Bank have frozen some of the firm’s accounts in Singapore, and Radiant World has been taken away from some mining corporations’ approved-customer lists, including Rio Tinto.

All of Radiant World’s accounts with the commodities broker Marex Group have been frozen.

Meanwhile, the company has begun to let go of some of its more than 100 employees, Reuters reported, quoting sources who said that a handful of staff in back-office roles had been let go from Radiant World’s operations in Dubai. The specific number of layoffs has not been disclosed.

The company was founded in 2003 by  Pinkesh Nahar, who was just 23 years old at the time. Mr Pinkesh said in 2014 that Radiant World’s aim was to trade one million tonnes of iron ore every month, adding that he hoped to generate a revenue of US$1 billion the following year.

The company is estimated to trade around 75 million tonnes each year.

After the US investigations were announced, Radiant World said that the accusations against it were “inaccurate and unsubstantiated,” and on Aug 6, a representative claimed that the company is “well capitalised with healthy liquidity”.

In July, Adhitya Sethaputra, who was in charge of the company’s Refined Metals division, left Radiant World after less than two years. /TISG