This is despite allegations that the parent company sold a 15 per cent stake in the struggling jet fuel importer in October to raise money to cover part of the subsidiary's oil trading losses. Investors were told at the time the sale was for investment purposes.

"Persons under investigation are essentially the ex-CEO and a few traders," CAO (Singapore) lawyer Patrick Ang said in the minutes of a closed door court hearing last Friday.

Since the scandal broke earlier this month, the Singaporean police have arrested only one company official in relation to the case - suspended CAO (Singapore) chief executive officer Chen Jiulin.

"If I had committed 1000 crimes, I would face up to them honestly," Mr Chen told Singapore's main Chinese-language newspaper, Lianhe Zaobao.

"I'm a son of a farmer. At worst, after a few years, I will return [to China] and grow rice," said the man who had been Singapore's fourth highest-paid chief executive.

Allegations that the parent company, CAO Holding, knew about the Singapore unit's losses when it sold the shares were made by Mr Chen in an affidavit on November 29.

CAO Holding has yet to comment on Mr Chen's allegations. The issue is complicated by the fact that many CAO executives hold positions in both companies - a common practice in Chinese state-owned companies.

For example, Mr Chen was also vice-president at the parent company while Gu Yanfei, appointed by the parent to head CAO (Singapore)'s restructuring, is a non-executive director at the subsidiary and head of enterprise planning and development at the parent.

The Friday hearing granted the company until January 21 to prepare a restructuring plan and until June 10 to call a creditors' meeting to approve the proposal.

"None of the people involved in the [restructuring] taskforce are involved in investigations currently," Mr Ang said in the minutes, which were seen by the FT at the weekend.

In what is described as a best-case scenario, Mr Ang said that CAO would need six weeks to draft the restructuring plan and a further six weeks for negotiations with creditors. It would then take up to 10 weeks to get shareholders' approval, an unknown amount of time to get Chinese authorities approval, and about three weeks to call the creditors' meeting.

A Singapore investor watchdog is seeking legal advice on a possible lawsuit against CAO (Singapore) over its losses, Bloomberg reported.

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