The owner of a gaming software firm has lodged a doleance claim against the regulator’s decision to ban him from having a role in the Isle of Man’s gambling sector.

Phua Cheng Wan was made subject to the indefinite prohibition by the Gambling Supervision Commission on July 22 this year.

This followed an investigation into whether he was a fit and proper person to be a licence holder.

The GSC concluded that Mr Wan, ultimate beneficial owner of Boldwood Software Ltd, was associated with ’bad actors’ and it was appropriate to take regulatory action against him to safeguard the reputation of the Isle of Man.

Its investigation established that while Mr Phua has not been convicted of any offence there was evidence of association with criminal elements.

The GSC said his acknowledgment of the facts and engagement with the Commission had allowed matters to be concluded sooner than might otherwise have been the case.

But in October, Mr Phua lodged a doleance claim against the GSC’s decision.

In response, the regulator applied to strike out that claim.

A case management hearing at the high court on Wednesday heard that the GSC says Mr Phua had agreed to the ban as he had signed a settlement agreement.

But Mr Phua’s advocate Leanne McKeown said her client’s position is that matters had come to light after the settlement agreement and he would be looking to set aside that agreement.

Deemster Andrew Corlett suggested he may face an ‘uphill struggle’.

Advocate for the GSC, Timothy Evans, said the settlement agreement was ‘very much a bedrock of the issue at hand’.

Deemster Corlett said he was content to endorse an order staying the doleance proceedings for eight weeks while the issue of setting aside the settlement agreement is addressed.

Boldwood was licensed by the GSC between November 2022 and May 14 this year when it surrendered its licence after the regulator served notice and an enforcement report on the company.

The Commission’s investigation identified a range of open-source materials that suggested Mr Phua was associated with ‘bad actors’.

Media reports had named Mr Phua as an associate of an individual who had pleaded guilty in a multi-billion dollar Singapore money laundering case.

In its public notice announcing the ban, the GSC said: ‘The Commission finds it appropriate to prohibit him from performing any role or functions within the regulated gambling sector in the Isle of Man.

‘The prohibition will remain in place indefinitely until such time as Mr Phua successfully applies to the Commission to have it varied or revoked.’

The previous month a new National Statement on eGaming and Financial Crime had been published.

This stated there was now ‘limited appetite’ to grant a licence for business in the e-gaming sector where there is ownership and/or control from East and Southeast Asia.

It’s been a challenging 18 months for the island’s e-gaming sector, which has seen a raft of licences being surrendered or cancelled and a sharp drop in the number employed by the sector.