BP Ex-Commodities Head Says Firm Had Atmosphere of Fear

BP Plc’s former head of commodities trading Quek Chin Thean, who is accused by the oil company of misusing confidential information and helping a rival, told a Singapore court he backed up the data because there was an “atmosphere of fear” at the firm.

BP had been “conducting oppressive and disproportionate investigative proceedings against its employees and ex-employees,” Quek, 41, said in papers filed in the Singapore High Court on Sept. 22. “It was this general atmosphere of fear in the BP Group that prompted me to back up my working e-mails and documents as a precaution.”