Updated: 01/17/2014 22:59 | By Channel NewsAsia
Man jailed 40 months for criminal breach of trust
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SINGAPORE: A man was on Friday jailed 40 months by a district court for criminal breach of trust offences that involved four Mercedes-Benz cars which he had rented from car rental companies.
The four cars were valued between S$98,000 and S$228,000.
30-year-old Soh Wei Siang had been indebted to illegal moneylenders before he committed the offences in 2008.
Soh said that an illegal moneylender known as "Ah Boy" had told him he would be given a sum of S$15,000 to pay off his debts if he rented five vehicles, drove them to Malaysia and handed them over to the illegal moneylenders.
Soh agreed to join in the scheme - the illegal moneylenders would give him the necessary funds to rent the vehicles from car rental companies and he would then drive the cars to Johor Bahru to meet them.
He would then follow them to an unknown location, leave the cars, and then return to Singapore by taxi.
The prosecution proceeded on two charges involving a Mercedes-Benz S280 worth S$228,000 and a Mercerdes-Benz C200 Kompressor worth S$155,000.
The court heard that after the last offence was committed, Soh did not return to Singapore as he knew police reports would have been lodged against him.
He also claimed that he sought the S$15,000 promised to him but was told that the vehicles had yet to be sold, and very little money would be left over after the amount he owed, and his expenses, were deducted.
After three weeks in Malaysia, Soh was instructed by the illegal moneylenders to go to Vietnam.
He then spent 13 months in Vietnam and Thailand before returning to Malaysia.
Soh was eventually arrested by Malaysian authorities in October last year and handed over to the Singapore police.
None of the vehicles has been recovered, and no restitution made.
Soh could have been jailed up to seven years and fined for each count of criminal breach of trust. - CNA/xq
