Aug 25, 2010
Jailed for abetting fake $50
<!-- by line --> By Elena Chong
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<!-- end left side bar --> <!-- story content : start --> A YOUNG man was packed off to jail for three years on Wednesday for abetting another person to use a fake $50 bill as genuine. Akira Ong Zhi Wei, 20, a former chef, had earlier admitted to helping Raza Iskandar Ashghar Masih to use the fake currency note in October last year.
Raza, who has been sentenced to three years and three months, used the counterfeit note to pay his cab fare of $5 to taxi driver Cher Yong Ngiap, 64, along Zion Road on Oct 15. Mr Cher lodged a police report the next day when he found out that the $50 note was a counterfeit.
Investigations showed that Ong introduced Raza to one Ng Tze Ren at Odeon Towers last October because Raza had mentioned that he needed a job and wanted to earn fast money. Deputy Public Prosecutor Toh Puay San said Ng, who is at large, showed Raza a stack of fake notes worth $20,000 and offered to sell them to Raza. He said all the notes had the same serial numbers printed on them.
Ng told Raza that he had to return $5,000 worth of genuine notes to him if he gave him the $20,000 worth of counterfeit notes. Raza agreed and arranged to meet Ng to next day for the fake notes to be handed over. After getting the counterfeit money in $50 denominations from Ng, Raza distributed them to others to use and exchange for genuine money.
Investigations further revealed that on Oct 17, Ong called a friend to help him buy two tickets to Thailand when he suspected that Raza had been arrested by the police. He and Ng left for Thailand the next day. But when they found out that Raza's arrest was false, they decided to return to Singapore. Ong could have been jailed for up to 20 years and fined for the offence.
