Court imposes freezing order on Autobahn group companies, directors amid allegations of fraud and bad faith

Two directors and five companies of the Autobahn Rent A Car group (Autobahn) were served a freezing order by Singapore’s High Court on Jan 9, as creditors allege fraud and the failure to disclose the location of vehicles under loans.

Directors Tan Boon Kee – also known as Roy Tan – and Sanjay Kumar Rai are subject to the injunction up to a limit of S$101.9 million each.

The five companies under the injunction are Autobahn Rent A Car, AhTan Car Repairs, Hamilton Autobahn, Hamilton Autohub and Hamilton Capital, each subject to varying limits of up to S$54.5 million.

The injunction prohibits the entities involved from disposing of assets world wide. This also includes dealing with or diminishing the value of any of the related assets or removing them from Singapore, among other things.

In response to BT queries, Clarence Lun, solicitor for Tan and Rai and Autobahn, said that he is taking his clients’ instructions, but did not elaborate.

This freezing order, or Mareva injunction, is commonly described as a “nuclear” move in civil litigation.

Such injunctions are not common and granted only when there is clear evidence of risk that debtors involved may frustrate proceedings of dissipation, which is the transferring, hiding or selling off assets.

Allegations of fraud

In November 2025, Autobahn Rent A Car and a group of 18 related companies including car-sharing service Shariot were revealed to owe more than S$300 million to over 40 creditors that spanned major banks, automotive financial companies and distributors, insurance companies and others.

The group’s application for a court moratorium and scheme of arrangement was dismissed on Dec 26, 2025. An appeal was filed but withdrawn on Jan 6, 2026, and Autobahn Rent A Car suspended its business the same day.

DBS is the single largest creditor, owed a total of around S$101.9 million, and was the applicant for the freezing order.

From 2018, it had extended to the five companies banking facilities for trade, overdraft, working capital, hire purchase, floor stock financing and block discounting.

Liabilities of the companies were secured by joint and several personal guarantees from Tan and Rai, vehicles financed by the group, and mortgages to properties including Autobahn’s office at 429 MacPherson Road.

In the application for the injunction, an affidavit from DBS’ representative dated Jan 8, 2026, said that there was “compelling evidence of potential fraud and bad faith” by the Autobahn companies, which may have fraudulently obtained double financing on some of its vehicles.

Double financing is where a vehicle bought under an existing loan is financed again to another entity. A type of fraud, it is typically carried out by forging documents that prove payment has been already made to the original financier. Among other things, the DBS affidavit referenced separate affidavits by Toyota distributor Borneo Motors and Hyundai distributor Komoco Motors that alleged double financing and possible forgery.

Borneo Motors’ affidavit by its CEO Ng Khee Siong dated Jan 5, 2026, stated that it had seen receipts were issued to six financial institutions saying that Borneo had been fully paid for some vehicles, when it in fact had not.

Ng added that Borneo Motors did not issue any of the receipts and was “horrified” by this “as it suggests…that the only way these documents could have been prepared is by forgery”.

Komoco’s affidavit by its commercial director Ng Choon Wee, also dated Jan 5, 2026, stated that Autobahn Rent A Car had purchased 10 cars from the company in November 2025, with a downpayment of S$23,000 and loan of S$204,619 for each vehicle. Financing was provided by Hamilton Capital.

In December, Komoco found out that Autobahn had entered into hire-purchase agreements for the 10 cars with another company, Golden Charter, which provided a receipt of payment made to Komoco. However, Komoco did not issue the receipt and believed it was forged.

Both Borneo and Komoco stated that as at the time of the affidavits, no explanation for the double financing or false documents had been given.

Accusations of bad faith

DBS’ Jan 8 affidavit also alleged “wrongful and dishonest conduct” by Autobahn with regard to repossession of cars.

The group had financed 720 vehicles in total with the bank, and as at Jan 8, 266 of them remain missing and unable to be located by the bank’s receivers.

It added that on Dec 26, 2025, Tan and Rai failed to provide the location of all the vehicles involved, were unresponsive thereafter and did not respond to a follow-up letter on Dec 31, 2025. When their legal representative, Fervent Chambers, responded on Jan 4, 2026, it did not provide information related to the cars’ location.

DBS pointed to separate affidavits by UOB and Tokyo Century Leasing revealing a “similar and consistent pattern of bad faith and obstructive conduct” with Autobahn refusing to reveal the location of cars to be repossessed.

The bank also noted that since the missing vehicles have not been registered with the Land Transport Authority, there is a “real risk that these vehicles may be (or already have been) exported or disposed of without (DBS’) knowledge or consent”.

In 2022, Ho Yik Fuh, the main director of several companies dealing with cars, was jailed 15 years for causing losses of S$12 million to OCBC, the Bank of East Asia and VTB Bank on double financing, achieved through forging documents.

Source: The Business Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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