Foreign talent's contributions to Singapore

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Jail for man who kept scamming victims even while out on bail​

Tan Kai Wen, 24, ran a series of renovation and rental scams, cheating almost 70 people of about $78,000. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO

David Sun
Crime Correspondent

Jun 13, 2024

SINGAPORE – A man ran a series of renovation and rental scams, cheating almost 70 people of about $78,000 which he then used for personal expenses like a hotel stay and alcohol.
Tan Kai Wen, 24, had been arrested and released on bail three times, but kept scamming victims until he was finally kept in remand.
On June 11, he was jailed for 28 months after he pleaded guilty to four cheating charges. Another eight cheating charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.
The court heard that he has used up all the money he cheated people of and has made no restitution.
Tan, a Malaysian, was previously working as a salesman at a renovation company here in late 2021.
He was facing financial difficulties at the time, and came up with a plan to cheat clients by having them make payments to his bank account instead of the company’s, for tabletops and other renovation work.
Tan began cheating clients from November 2021, getting four of them to transfer more than $11,000 in total to him.

The ruse involved excuses such as the company’s account being closed on Saturdays and that he was able to offer discounts.
Police reports were made against Tan, and he was arrested on July 18, 2022, before being charged in court a week later and released on bail.
But he continued with his cheating spree, tricking 14 victims of another $16,300 through renovation scams up till January 2023.

During that time, Tan had been arrested again twice on Nov 13, 2022, and Jan 20, 2023, and released on bail each time.
The renovation company had lodged a police report against him in August 2022, but he then created a Carousell account to continue running the scams.
Tan failed to turn up in court for a hearing on Jan 25, 2023, and a warrant of arrest was issued against him.
While on the run, he switched up his scam type, cheating a total of 49 victims of about $51,000 in a series of rental scams on Facebook using multiple identities.
Tan’s crime spree came to an end after he was arrested on March 15, 2023, and kept in remand.

The prosecution said that by then, there were a total of 68 victims, of which 49 were foreigners working in Singapore who were looking for accommodation.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Santhra Aiyyasamy said Tan had a complete disregard for the law, law enforcement authorities and the court, having committed the spate of offences while out on bail and on the run.
Tan’s sentence was backdated to March 15, 2023, from when he had been in remand.
For each count of cheating, he could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.

 

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Man jailed for avoiding payment to six dental clinics under guise of toilet break​

Andrew Wong

Jun 13, 2024

SINGAPORE – On seven separate occasions, a man visited six different dental clinics to undergo procedures, including X-rays and root canal treatments.
After every procedure, he would make off without paying by excusing himself to go to a toilet located outside the clinic.
On June 12, Ryosuke Tanaka, 36, pleaded guilty to three charges of cheating amounting to just over $4,780 and was sentenced to five months’ jail.
His lawyer Noelle Teoh, from Gloria James-Civetta & Co, had argued that there was no degree of planning or sophistication when he committed the offences, as his request to go to the washroom could have been easily rejected by the clinics.
During sentencing, Principal District Judge Jill Tan said that while Tanaka’s methods were not sophisticated, they were still premeditated.
Four other similar charges were taken into consideration.
The court heard that from 2020 to 2022, he had employed the same method at three different clinics to receive tooth extractions, X-rays and consultations worth a total of $2,222.55.

In his mitigation plea, Ms Teoh said Tanaka had intended to leave without making payment, as he believed he would receive the invoices in the mail.
Tanaka, who is self-employed, had made full restitution of $7,004.38 to all the clinics involved, including the three clinics in the charges taken into consideration for sentencing, she added.
In response, Deputy Public Prosecutor Cheronne Lim, who was seeking five to seven months jail, said most of the procedures that Tanaka went for were not straightforward services like regular cleaning.
He had undergone procedures including root canal and dental crown treatment, which were “almost semi-surgical” procedures, said the DPP.
For each count of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.

 

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Fine for man who squirted mixture of urine and flour on woman’s dress to try to chat her up​

Tan Jun Hao, a 31-year-old Malaysian, was fined $1,200 after he pleaded guilty to using criminal force on the woman. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Jun 20, 2024

SINGAPORE - Wanting to talk to women, a man hatched a plan to soil their clothes with a mixture of his urine and flour so that he could have an opportunity to break the ice between them and him.
On June 20, Tan Jun Hao, a 31-year-old Malaysian, was fined $1,200 after he pleaded guilty to using criminal force on one of the women.
He followed a 26-year-old woman as she was going up an escalator from Nicoll Highway MRT station at around 8.30pm on April 9.
He then squirted the mixture, which he had earlier mixed in a small plastic bottle, on her dress as she was walking along a nearby overhead bridge.
Instead of stopping to talk to the woman after that, he walked past her.
She initially thought that the mixture was bird droppings due to its smell, and the stain grew bigger when she tried to wipe it off with tissue paper.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Yap Jia Jun said: “The accused intended to squirt the mixture on the clothes of ladies, especially young ladies wearing dark-coloured bottoms, and then alert them that their clothes had been dirtied.

“He wanted to create opportunities for him to talk to these ladies.”
Tan admitted that he had done the same to two other unknown victims.
“He had also prepared red dye at home, which he intended to mix into the liquid,” said the prosecutor.
Court documents did not state how the authorities managed to track Tan down before he was caught.

 

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Jail for man who molested teen passenger while providing illegal carpooling service​

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Jul 04, 2024

SINGAPORE – A man who provided an illegal carpooling service in a Malaysia-registered car molested a 14-year-old passenger after she requested a ride via the SG Hitch group on messaging platform Telegram.
On July 3, Fong Tong Zjin, 23, was sentenced to 14 months’ jail and three strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to a molestation charge.
The Malaysian was also fined $1,800 for offences including using the car as a public service vehicle without a valid licence to do so.
At around 5pm on Nov 25, 2023, the victim went on the SG Hitch group and requested a ride from a block of flats in Yishun Ring Road to the Primz Bizhub building in Woodlands Close.
Fong responded to her in a private message, and they agreed that she would pay him $8 for transporting her there.
Around 20 minutes later, he arrived in a BMW car. Even though the car was registered to his girlfriend’s brother, Fong was the main user of the vehicle and was responsible for financing it, the court heard.
Upon arrival, the victim was about to open the back door of the car when Fong opened the front passenger seat door and told her to sit beside him.

She agreed, and Fong was driving the car when he asked to hold her hand.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Yap Jia Jun told the court: “When the victim did not respond, the accused used his left hand to hold onto the victim’s right hand, with their fingers intertwined.
“He also rubbed her palm with his thumb, and commented that her hand was smooth. The victim did not resist. This lasted three to five minutes.”

Fong later groped the teenager’s chest before withdrawing his hand, and touched her private parts.
The DPP added: “The more the victim tried to push the accused’s hand away, the more he touched her.
“The victim remained in the car because she was afraid of dying if she jumped out. Instead, she just asked the accused to drive faster.”
The victim later reached her destination and Fong deleted the Telegram chat that he had with her.
Court documents did not disclose what happened next, but Fong was arrested on Nov 26, 2023.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said that for commuters’ own safety, it strongly encourages those who wish to book carpooling services to do so via licensed or permitted licence-exempt business platforms.
An LTA spokesperson added: “The operators of these platforms would maintain a record of the driver and trip in the event of an incident or dispute.
“Operators would also be required to verify the validity of drivers’ licences... Illegal carpooling trips matched through informal channels such as Telegram chat groups do not offer such commuter safeguards.”

 

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Commentary: Relocating for work is tough — but the gains are well worth the discomfort and hassle​

Nurjannah Suhaimi/TODAY
Overseas experience is attractive to employers, notes the writer, but being away from home has its trade-offs. How can we best weigh the gains and costs?



Listen to this article
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More and more Singaporeans are seeking to broaden their prospects abroad, but being away from the comforts of home has its trade-offs, notes the writer. How can we best weigh the gains and costs for ourselves?

Dawn SooThe author with her husband, Finlay Wright, in Hong Kong in March 2023, shortly before they relocated to Dubai

By Dawn Soo
Published September 12, 2024
Updated September 12,

One wonders: Is it truly worth it to leave our little red dot and venture abroad?

According to a new study by Cigna Healthcare, globally mobile individuals experience higher stress levels (86 per cent compared to the global average of 80 per cent). However, they also report better mental well-being — 58 per cent of globally mobile respondents report “excellent” or “very good” levels of mental well-being, compared to the global average of 46 per cent.

This suggests that while international assignments can be challenging, the resilience and adaptability developed through these experiences can also contribute significantly to overall well-being, and by extension, fulfilment in one’s career and life.

Read also​

'Singaporeans need to level up': Companies say flexi-work could push them to hire overseas​

However, while overseas assignments can be immensely valuable for personal and professional development, we first have to be clear-headed about the benefits and priorities we are seeking before making that leap.
Having spent a significant chunk of my career based outside of Singapore, here’s my two cents on the matter.

 

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Jail for voyeur who preyed on at least 27 victims, including 3 close female friends​

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Jul 11, 2024

SINGAPORE - Over a period of about four years, a voyeur targeted at least 27 victims, including three close female friends, who felt betrayed after finding out he had secretly recorded intimate videos of them.
One of them, identified in court documents as the first victim, was so shaken by her ordeal that she had to undergo counselling for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Another close friend, identified as the second victim, found it difficult to concentrate and had to ask for a six-month extension to complete her PhD to a satisfactory standard.
The offender, who committed his first offence in February 2019, identified 21 of his other victims as former colleagues, college friends and a former intern. He could not recognise the others.
The Malaysian man, 33, was a software engineer when he was arrested in 2023. His electronic devices were later found to contain 53 upskirt videos and at least 40 videos of some victims showering.
On July 11, he was sentenced to 20 months and four weeks’ jail after he pleaded guilty to five charges including multiple counts of voyeurism.
Eight other charges were considered during sentencing. He has not been named to protect the identities of his victims.

He took an upskirt video of another close friend, identified as the third victim in court documents, in 2019 when she was 24 years old.
The woman, her boyfriend whom she later married, and the offender were close. The couple would ask him to take care of her rented apartment whenever they went overseas.
While taking care of the unit, the offender would invite other friends over to hang out.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tay Jia En said: “Unbeknownst to his friends, the accused took the opportunity to commit various voyeuristic offences there.
“The accused intentionally recorded six of his friends by placing his handphone in the toilet of the (apartment) to record them in a state of undress.”
He also recorded upskirt videos of the third victim inside her own home in 2021 and 2022. She felt “very vulnerable and attacked” when she found out what he had done, the court heard.
DPP Tay said: “She is now sceptical of everyone around her. The third victim is presently seeking professional help with a psychotherapist.”

The second victim was 21 when the man used a mobile phone to record her private acts in a toilet in 2019.
In 2021, he placed the device in various undisclosed hidden locations to record her in a state of undress on at least four occasions.
DPP Tay told the court: “The second victim now felt that... trust was abused, and she no longer knows who she can trust, no longer feeling safe around many of her male friends, and even her own father.
“(She) had recurring dreams that she was being assaulted by different men that she trusted.”
The first victim first met the offender during a university programme in 2014, and they grew close to each other. She was 24 in 2019 when he recorded her private acts in a toilet.
Between 2020 and 2023, he repeatedly recorded her in a state of undress by placing his mobile phone at various undisclosed hidden locations.
His offences came to light on April 8, 2023, when she invited him and two male friends to her home to play board games.
He placed his mobile phone on top of a box in her bedroom, activated the recording mode and left the room.
The woman was drying her hair in her bedroom after a shower when she spotted the device.
She alerted the police after finding incriminating contents on the phone, and he was arrested at around 10.30pm that day.
The DPP said: “(She) had to take two weeks off from work because the ‘constant nightmares, insomnia and paranoia’ left her exhausted and unable to function.”
Following his arrest, the offender told investigators that the videos he had taken were meant for his own viewing, and he had not shared them with others.

 

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Woman got colleague to hire maid on her behalf to bypass work permit rules; all 3 get jail​

The woman had already hired another maid on paper to allow her acquaintance to find part-time cleaning work in Singapore.

File photo of a foreign domestic worker.

Lydia Lam​

15 Jul 2024


SINGAPORE: A marketing operations manager working in Singapore on an employment pass agreed to help an acquaintance by hiring her as a maid on paper in exchange for money.
This was despite her knowing that the acquaintance would be sourcing for her own work and wanted the work permit only to stay in Singapore.
However, when the manager needed a maid to care for her toddler, she could not hire one as she already had one on record. She then turned to a colleague to help hire another maid on paper in the colleague's name.
Those involved - two maids and their two employers on paper - have been sentenced to jail for flouting foreign employment laws.
On Monday (Jul 15), 48-year-old marketing operations manager Loraine Bucud Arat was sentenced to nine weeks' jail. Her colleague Chuang Tiew Jong Veronica, a 72-year-old Singaporean, was handed 12 days' jail, while 41-year-old Filipina maid Pestano Jeannette Masinsin received five weeks' imprisonment.
The fourth woman - domestic helper Cerbas Melanie Selerio, was sentenced in 2021 to eight weeks' imprisonment.
Jeannette and Chuang pleaded guilty to one charge each under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act of submitting a false statement in a work permit application for a domestic helper.
Loraine pleaded guilty to one charge of making a false statement in her application for a maid's work permit for Melanie, and a second charge for conspiring with Jeannette and Chuang to make another false statement in the work permit application for Jeannette. A third charge was considered in sentencing.

THE CASE​

According to court documents, Loraine worked as a marketing operations manager in Singapore on an employment pass.
In 2016, she got to know Melanie, a domestic helper working for another family in Singapore, through a volleyball game.
In late 2017, Melanie asked Loraine if she knew anyone who needed a maid. The two women discussed the issue and Loraine agreed to apply for a domestic helper work permit for Melanie in her name.
They had an understanding that Melanie would use the work permit to remain in Singapore and look for her own employment, and that Loraine would not actually be her employer.
As part of the agreement, Melanie agreed to bear her own monthly levy of S$300, and to pay Loraine monthly rental and utility fees of between S$300 and S$400.
Loraine submitted an application to the Ministry of Manpower's Work Pass Division in June 2018 to employ Melanie as a domestic helper at her home.
This false arrangement went on for just over a year, with Melanie doing part-time cleaning work around Singapore until her work permit was cancelled in September 2019.
In late 2017, around the same time Loraine had agreed to help Melanie with her false application, Loraine brought her toddler to Singapore to start schooling.
Loraine had hired Jeannette as a nanny in the Philippines in June 2015 to care for her daughter, who was aged one then. Loraine then relocated to Singapore for work and left her daughter in the Philippines with Jeannette.
In late 2017, Loraine wanted to bring Jeannette over to Singapore so Jeanette could care for her girl, who was about three years old by then.
However, she was unsuccessful in applying for a maid permit for Jeannette, as she was already the work permit employer for Melanie.
Around October 2018, Loraine asked her colleague Chuang to help obtain a work permit for Jeannette. She explained to Chuang that she could not succeed in getting one for Jeannette, whom she wanted to care for her daughter.
The reason for her failure was not disclosed to Chuang.
At that time, Loraine had been taking her daughter to the office regularly, disrupting her work performance. In light of this, Chuang agreed to help Loraine.
She submitted a work permit application to hire Jeannette as a maid at her address. After the application was approved, Jeannette entered Singapore, stayed with Loraine and worked for her.
For about nine months from November 2018, the trio maintained the arrangement. During this period, Chuang also hired Jeannette to clean her own home about twice a month.
Each session lasted about five hours, and Chuang would pay Jeannette S$50.
MOM received a tip-off about possible contravention of foreign employment laws and began investigating the case in November 2019.

PROSECUTION CALLS FOR JAIL​

MOM prosecutor Khong Zi-Wei on Monday sought 11 weeks' jail for Loraine, six weeks for Jeannette and three to four weeks for Chuang.
Mr Khong said Loraine had masterminded the scheme, approaching Chuang with her proposal, which included Loraine transferring Jeannette's monthly levy to Chuang and for Loraine to prepare all the necessary administrative paperwork.
Chuang agreed, but did not make any financial gains from the arrangement.
Mr Khong said MOM would not have issued the work permit for Jeannette if it knew she would be working for Loraine, since Loraine's applications for Jeannette had been rejected twice.
Mr Khong said the deception was "conscious and planned", allowing Jeannette to remain in Singapore for nine months before her permit was cancelled.
He said Chuang's actions had allowed both Loraine and Jeannette to abuse the work pass framework.
"She had effectively deprived a foreign employee (and prospective employer) of an opportunity to work legally in Singapore as a migrant domestic worker," said Mr Khong.
While Chuang did not benefit financially, she was an intermediary between Loraine and Jeannette. She was also able to enjoy the benefits of Jeannette's domestic work as and when she required, without having to maintain her as a domestic helper under the work pass and regulatory conditions.

DEFENCE'S MITIGATION​

The three women were represented by Mr Laurence Goh from Laurence Goh Eng Yau & Co.
He sought leniency for his clients, saying that Chuang in particular was "quite a sick lady" who survived cancer.
She cannot squat and has to go to the toilet about five times a night, and the condition has given her a lot of difficulties in her movement, said Mr Goh.
He said Chuang cooperated fully, and received no financial gain. In her old age and immobile situation, she accepted it when Jeannette helped her to clean the house and gave S$50 for Jeannette's help "in appreciation", said Mr Goh.
He said it was "impromptu" and not a fixed situation where it was agreed Jeannette would clean Chuang's home a certain number of times a month.
He said all three women had intended to plead guilty at the first instance, but were advised to seek legal advice as they were facing jail terms.
District Judge Ronald Gwee said this offence was one that MOM has given "sufficient publicity about", and is particularly difficult to detect.
If MOM has to inspect and examine employment situations regularly, it would strain its resources, said the judge.
He agreed with the prosecution that sufficiently stern sentences have to be meted out, as in many of such cases, the offenders do not feel that what they did "is so seriously wrong".
If MOM's efforts to control the employment situation are hampered, it could lead to many negative effects for the country, said the judge.

 

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Jail for ex-director who misappropriated over $255k of company’s money​

Suranakapan Palit arriving at the State Courts on July 9, 2024. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Jul 18, 2024


SINGAPORE – A former business development director at an eyewear company who misappropriated more than $255,000 of its money was sentenced to 14 months’ jail on July 18.
Thai national Suranakapan Palit, 48, who previously earned around $156,000 a year at Luxottica SEA, pleaded guilty on July 9 to two counts of criminal breach of trust involving more than $207,000.
A third charge linked to the remaining amount was considered during sentencing.
Between Oct 26, 2018, and Oct 22, 2019, he used a company-issued credit card to unlawfully withdraw money and pay for expenses in transactions involving more than $97,000 in total.
He committed a similar offence involving cash totalling more than $110,000 between Jan 1 and April 21, 2020.
In earlier proceedings, Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Shao Yan told the court that the card should only be used to pay for work-related entertainment and travel expenses.
Suranakapan left Singapore on March 4, 2020, and the company later terminated his employment.

Through its internal control systems, the company discovered his acts of misconduct.
Its human resources director made a police report on Nov 24, 2020, and officers arrested Suranakapan when he returned to Singapore on Aug 21, 2023.
For each count of criminal breach of trust, an offender can be jailed for up to 15 years and fined.

 

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Singapore-flagged vessel loaded with drugs caught off Riau Islands, say Indonesian authorities​

Three Singapore PRs who are Indian nationals are allegedly the owners of the drugs and had commissioned the trip. PHOTO: F. PANGESTU

Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja
Indonesia Correspondent

Jul 17, 2024

JAKARTA - Indonesia has intercepted a Singapore-flagged vessel carrying 106kg of crystal methamphetamine in the waters off the Riau Islands that was probably en route to Brisbane, Australia, said the authorities on July 17.
Acting on a tip-off, the Indonesian authorities intercepted the cargo vessel, called Legend Aquarius, in the Pongkar waters of the Karimun district, about one hour from Singapore by ferry.
It was manned by 10 Indonesian crew members, including the captain.
Three Singapore permanent residents who are Indian nationals were also on board. They are allegedly the owners of the drugs and had commissioned the trip, police commissioner-general Marthinus Hukom, head of the Indonesian National Narcotic Agency (BNN), told reporters at a press conference in Batam.
Contacted by The Straits Times, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said that on July 17, it was alerted to the detention of a Singapore-flagged vessel, Legend Aquarius, by the Indonesian authorities.
“MPA is in contact with the vessel owner to ascertain the facts and has advised the company to cooperate with the Indonesian authorities on the investigations,” MPA said in a reply to The Straits Times.
At the press conference, Inspector-General Wayan Sugiri, BNN deputy for eradication, said the vessel left Singapore on July 9 for a private port in Johor Bahru.
While at the private port on July 12, the three PRs – whose initials police disclosed as RM, SD and GV – loaded the illicit drugs onto the vessel and placed them in the engine room. The boat captain and nine crew members had earlier been told to leave the vessel and have a break on shore.
The three PRs have lived in Singapore for periods of between six and eight years, and each of them has academic credentials in vessel engineering, said the authorities.
On July 13, the vessel was refuelled in the waters off Singapore before continuing the trip towards Indonesia.

“Based on our interrogations of the three foreigners, they had planned to head to Surabaya, Dili, Papua, then Brisbane, Australia. But we will double-check this, in case they didn’t state the truth,” said Inspector-General Wayan.
He also said the authorities had received a tip-off about the illegal shipment from members of the public whom he declined to identify. He added that the vessel crew were not implicated in the crime.

The BNN said the vessel has an IMO number of 9797072. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) uses a numbering system to provide a mechanism and registry for the unique identification and registration of vessels globally to increase traceability and transparency.
The maximum penalty for a conviction over charges related to the trading of illegal drugs is a death sentence, according to the 2009 anti-narcotics law.
“The message from BNN’s chief (General Marthinus Hukom) is clear: Don’t try to get drugs into Indonesia. We are not working alone. We receive information coming from everywhere,” said Inspector-General Wayan.

Indonesia’s anti-narcotic agency BNN presenting in a media briefing confiscated crystal methamphetamine from the Singapore-flagged Legend Aquarius it intercepted in waters off the Riau Islands. PHOTO: F. PANGESTU
The crackdown on trafficking by Indonesia comes amid soaring consumption of illicit narcotics in the region.
On Feb 23, BNN and the Central Narcotics Bureau of Singapore agreed to form a strategic partnership to fight illicit drugs in South-east Asia, as there had been a rise in such crimes as well as increasing complexity in curbing them.
BNN head Marthinus said Indonesia would work with its Singapore counterparts to exchange information and data, as well as collaborate on enforcement and joint operations, Indonesian state news agency Antara reported on Feb 23.

 

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4 weeks’ jail for cyclist who rode bike with faulty brakes and caused 63-year-old pedestrian’s death​

Nadine Chua

Sep 20, 2024

SINGAPORE - A woman rode a bicycle with faulty rear brakes and ran into a 63-year-old pedestrian, who fell, hit her head on the ground, and subsequently died from a head injury.
On Sept 20, Li Lanying, 52, was sentenced to four weeks’ jail after pleading guilty to causing the older woman’s death by performing a negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide.
Li, a Chinese national, had known for two to three months before the accident that her bicycle brakes were faulty, but chose not to repair it, the court heard.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Jing Min said the accident took place on March 8, 2023, along Martaban Road, a single-lane two-way road, towards Balestier Road.
At around 9pm that night, Li had just finished her shift at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where she was employed as a housekeeper, and was on her way home.
She was riding at a fast speed downslope as retiree Lee Lai Kuen, who was on a daily night walk with her husband, was crossing the road, said the DPP.
As Li got close to Ms Lee, she applied her brakes but the bicycle failed to slow down as its braking system was defective, added the prosecutor.

Both women tried to avoid each other, but Li’s right handlebar hit Ms Lee’s right arm, causing her to fall backwards and hit her head on the ground.
Li also fell off her bicycle.
Ms Lee was unconscious when she was taken to hospital and was pronounced dead on March 20, 2023.
The prosecutor said that Li did not repair her bicycle’s brakes, which she knew were faulty, because there were usually no pedestrians on the road when she commuted to and from work.
Seeking four to eight weeks’ jail for Li, DPP Tan said not only did she not fix the brakes, but she also travelled at a fast speed downslope during the time of the accident.
“Given these factors, the accused’s conduct borders on rashness,” said the prosecutor.
In mitigation, defence lawyer Lim Lei Theng said while she accepts that her client was negligent, the manner in which the accident occurred does not reflect a high culpability on Li’s part.
Those convicted of causing the death of a person by committing a negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide can be jailed for up to two years, fined, or both.

 

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Jail for ex-director at engineering firm who gave $285k in bribes to then LTA executive​

Cai Jungang, who was convicted in May on seven graft charges, was sentenced to a year and 10 months’ jail on July 29. PHOTO: ST FILE

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Jul 29, 2024

SINGAPORE - An executive director and shareholder at an engineering firm gave bribes totalling $285,000 in the form of loans to a Land Transport Authority (LTA) deputy group director.
At the time of the offences, Chinese national Cai Jungang, 60, was working for the Tritech Group. He was also a director at its subsidiaries – Presscrete Engineering and Tritech Engineering & Testing (Singapore).
Cai gave the bribes to Singaporean Henry Foo Yung Thye, who resigned from LTA in September 2019, to advance Tritech Group’s business interests with the agency.
On July 29, Cai was sentenced to a year and 10 months’ jail after District Judge Jasvender Kaur convicted him of seven graft charges in May following a trial.
A search with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority revealed that Cai is no longer a director at the three companies.
Deputy public prosecutors Jiang Ke-Yue and Louis Ngia stated in their submissions that LTA was a key client of Tritech Engineering.
The DPPs also told the court that there is no evidence the offences had a direct impact on the award of LTA contracts to Cai’s companies and their performance.

They added: “This does not mean that no harm was caused, or that the accused did not benefit.
“Rather, as a result of the loans, (Foo) became beholden to the accused, and had repeatedly acted improperly, providing the accused with information ahead of time or via circumvention of the proper channels.”
Some of them were linked to contract T2805, involving instrumentation and monitoring work for the construction of Stevens and Napier stations, as well as tunnels for the Thomson-East Coast Line.

For instance, the DPPs said, when LTA decided to award T2805 to the Tritech Group, Foo told Cai the news before the official announcement as Cai had given him the loans.
According to court documents, Foo was aware of a conflict of interest when he made his first loan request to Cai, asking that it be kept confidential between them if Cai was not willing to give him the loan.
Cai eventually gave Foo two loans totalling $88,000 in January 2014. A few days later, Foo demonstrated his gratitude by sending Cai a work-related message stating: “Happy New Year, Dr Cai. Will work with you in T2805.”
Cai gave Foo more loans later that year, with all of them adding up to $185,000 in total.
He was fearful that Foo could affect his company’s chances of getting tenders or work in projects if he turned down the loan requests.

At the time of the last loan of $100,000 in 2016, contract T2805 and two others were still ongoing.
The DPPs said: “There was therefore a clear incentive for the accused to accede to (Foo’s) requests for loans, since his companies were either tendering for or performing works for projects where (Foo) was the project director.”
They also said Foo had asked for all the loans “incessantly”, adding: “Not only was (Foo) asking for large amounts of money from the accused regularly, he had revealed to the accused he was desperate.
“He had approached a colleague and former contractor friend for money, and even asked the accused to use his credit facilities to fund the loans.”
Cai was represented by Senior Counsel Tan Chee Meng, and lawyers Paul Loy and Calvin Ong.
According to the prosecution, Foo and Cai had tried to conceal the corruption by claiming the loans were between two friends.
But the DPPs stressed that during an investigation into the case, Cai revealed in his statement to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau in September 2019 that he did not regard Foo as a friend but merely a representative of his client, LTA.
The prosecution told Judge Kaur: “The accused’s efforts to package the loans as innocent help were deceitful, and they underscore his corrupt intent in making the loans.”
In September 2021, Foo, then 47, was sentenced to five years and six months’ jail after taking some $1.24 million in bribes in the form of loans from multiple contractors and sub-contractors.
Foo, who had pleaded guilty to seven counts of corruption, was also ordered to pay a penalty of more than $1.1 million, equivalent to the amount he had not returned.
On July 29, Cai’s bail was set at $150,000, and he is expected to begin serving his sentence on Aug 12.

 

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Ex-manager and firm he jumped ship to ordered to pay $880k in damages to his former employer​

The nearly $890,000 in damages awarded by Senior Judge Chan Seng Onn is one of the highest in recent years involving employment disputes. PHOTO: ST FILE

Toh Yong Chuan
Assistant Business Editor

Sep 23, 2024

SINGAPORE - After a six-year High Court battle, a former senior manager was ordered to pay $445,686 in damages to his previous employer, an international IT firm, after he jumped ship to a rival firm.
Mr Voon South Shiong and Sunway Digital – the competitor that hired him – were also jointly ordered to pay another $433,742 to Mr Voon’s former employer 3D Infosystems in damages.
The court found both to have conspired against Mr Voon’s former employer, while Mr Voon was found to have breached his employment contract by making unauthorised payments, acting against his former employer during employment and soliciting former colleagues to join the competitor.
The nearly $880,000 in damages awarded by Justice Chan Seng Onn, a senior judge, on Sept 16 is one of the highest in recent years involving employment disputes.
In the decision, the court set out what employees cannot do when they join a competitor.
Justice Chan described the case as “one familiar to most companies: A trusted employee resigns and collaborates with a competitor, and in so doing, sweeps up with him a large swathe of his former employer’s clients and other employees”.
Mr Voon joined 3D Infosystems on April 9, 2007. At that time, the company was known as 3D Networks Singapore. His employment terms included a non-disclosure agreement and a conduct guide.

When he left the company in April 2018, he was part of the senior management team and was entrusted with managing clients and suppliers. He ran the firm’s sales team and had the authority to approve claims for reimbursements.
Court documents did not state what his previous salary was, but after he joined Sunway Digital, he earned $898,300 for 35 months from May 2018 to March 2021. This worked out to a monthly salary of about $25,700.
Some time in 2017, Mr Voon met a businessman, Mr Sng Sheau Huei, and both of them discussed Mr Sng’s plan to set up a new digital transformation business. Mr Voon then sent Mr Sng business plans from October to December 2017. Mr Sng incorporated Sunway Digital in January 2018 as its sole chief executive and director. The business plans were to become a key point of dispute.

Mr Voon quitting 3D Infosystems in April 2018 also coincided with the departure of nine employees between March and August 2018. Eight of them subsequently joined Sunway Digital.
On July 25, 2018, 3D Infosystems sued Mr Voon and Sunway Digital in the High Court. It accused Mr Voon of breaching his employment contract and duties, and both him and Sunway Digital of conspiracy and inducing its employees to quit.
After a hearing spanning 26 days between November 2020 and December 2021, the court on July 18, 2022, found Mr Voon liable for a long list of infractions including fraudulent misrepresentation, breach of confidence and conspiring with Sunway Digital. The court also found the competitor firm liable for conspiracy and inducing 3D Infosystems’ employees to resign.
But it was a bittersweet victory for 3D Infosystems: While it was able to persuade the court to pin liability on Mr Voon and Sunway Digital in some areas, it failed in others. For example, the court said 3D Infosystems did not produce evidence on its claims that some of the reimbursement claims approved by Mr Voon were fraudulent.
With liability settled, the High Court then held another 13 days of hearing in March, April, June and July 2024 to decide on the damages to be paid to 3D Infosystems.
It applied some novel methods to determine the amounts.
Of the almost $880,000 it awarded to 3D Infosystems, the biggest sum was $269,510 related to a Singapore Power (SP) project valued at about $2.5 million. 3D Infosystems narrowly lost its bid to Sunway Digital after Mr Voon disclosed his former employer’s pricing strategy to his new employer.
“On a balance of probabilities, I am satisfied that (3D Infosystems) would likely have secured the SP project but for the defendants’ breaches and conspiracy,” said Justice Chan, referring to Mr Voon and Sunway Digital as the defendants.
The $269,510 award was the estimated profit both made in the project, which the court said should be given to 3D Infosystems.
It also ordered Mr Voon to pay his former employer $185,904 – which is the difference between what Sunway Digital paid him ($898,300) for 35 months and what the court assessed to be the value of his actual work ($712,396). The difference was the personal “profit” he made by using confidential information to prepare business plans to help Sunway Digital get up and running, and this “profit” should be “disgorged” and given to 3D Infosystems as well, the court said.
For poaching 3D Infosystems employees, the court ordered Mr Voon to pay $122,356, and both Mr Voon and Sunway Digital to pay another $147,283.
While the remaining amounts of damages are smaller for breaches such as unauthorised payments and leaking internal manuals, one stands out.

From June 29 to July 3, 2015, Mr Voon made some 3D Infosystems staff sell fruit juice and prepare marketing materials for a side hustle he had set up in July 2014, under the pretext of building teamwork.
“I found this ‘team-building exercise’ to be a farce concocted by (Mr Voon) to divert (3D Infosystems’) employees to benefit his own business,” said Justice Chan. For this ruse, Mr Voon was ordered to pay $38,212 to his former employer, which is the salary of the staff who spent time on the juice business during their working hours.
3D Infosystems was represented by Harry Elias Partnership and Sunway Digital by Loo & Partners. IRB Law and Rex Legal Law Corporation represented Mr Voon at different stages of the court case.
The decision on Sept 16 brought to a close a low-key but lengthy legal battle between Mr Voon, his former employer 3D Infosystems and the rival Sunway Digital.
An Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) check on Sept 20 found 3D Infosystems operating from Shaw House in Orchard Road and Sunway Digital from a commercial building in MacPherson.
Mr Voon, listed in Acra records as a Brunei national, is still the sole shareholder and director of the side hustle selling fruit juice. But there is no trace of him in social media accounts and online.

 

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Jail for factory manager who worked with 3 colleagues to cheat firm of over $451k​

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Aug 06, 2024

SINGAPORE – A factory manager and three of his colleagues worked together to cheat their employer of more than $451,000 by submitting inflated and fictitious claims.
At the time of the offences, Teoh Chwin Tzen, Jennifer Chiang Lai Fah, Teo Heng Song and Quek Chee Meng were working for carpentry firm Kai Millwork.
Teoh also cheated multiple people, including two of his other colleagues, of more than $6,000. Among other things, he claimed that the pair had to pay for “quarantine fees” that did not exist.
In addition, the Malaysian accepted more than $50,000 in bribes from representatives of different firms to advance the business interest of their companies with Kai Millwork.
On Aug 5, Teoh, 42, was sentenced to two years, 10 months and 10 weeks’ jail.
He was ordered to pay a penalty of more than $50,000 and will have to spend an additional eight weeks behind bars if he fails to fork out the amount.
He pleaded guilty to four counts of cheating involving nearly $310,000. He also pleaded guilty to four graft charges linked to more than $43,000.

Fourteen other charges, including multiple other counts of cheating and graft linked to the remaining amount, were considered during sentencing. He has made no restitution for his cheating offences.
In March, Chiang, then 37, was sentenced to 10 months’ jail. Court documents did not disclose the outcome of Quek and Teo’s cases.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Nicole Teo told the court that in 2021, Teoh suggested to Chiang that they could cheat Kai Millwork.

As part of the plan, he would falsify invoices or instruct someone else to do so on his behalf.
The documents would claim that certain freelancers had purportedly done some work, when in fact it was performed by Kai Millwork’s own employees.
Teoh would send the falsified documents to Chiang, who would then approve the invoices and payments to the freelancers.

After that, the freelancers would transfer cash to Teoh, either directly to him or through Chiang.
Through the scheme, Teoh approved falsified invoices in the name of one Mr Noel Chan for works which were not done by the latter.
The DPP said: “Payments were made from the company to Noel’s bank account. Noel was (Chiang’s friend and he was) unaware of the scheme.
“(He) had agreed to receive monies from the company as (Chiang had deceived him) as to the purpose of these money transfers.”
On 15 occasions from Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2022, Teoh engaged in a conspiracy with Chiang to cheat Kai Millwork of nearly $172,000.
In early 2021, he also cheated two of its employees of $4,400 in cash after telling the pair that they had to pay “quarantine fees”. Court documents did not disclose details about these purported fees.
Separately, around January 2022, Teoh told Teo and Quek to send falsified and inflated invoices to the firm for their commission payments.
Teoh then approved these invoices, and according to court documents, the company gave payments totalling more than $133,000 to Teo and Quek, in excess of what the pair were actually owed.
According to court documents, Teoh received 75 per cent of the ill-gotten gains while the other two men retained the remainder.
The DPP said that over six occasions from January to December 2022, Teoh also accepted more than $31,000 in bribes from one Li Junjie, who was the director of a firm called Kia Meng Trading at the time. In 2022, Kai Millwork awarded jobs worth more than $81,000 to Kia Meng Trading.
Teoh also accepted bribes from the representatives of three other firms – Orbitez, Mr Black Interior and Limited Sofa Manufacturer.

 

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Top brass of Japanese syndicate accused of laundering $628.7m for criminals lived in S’pore​

(Clockwise from left) Sotaro Ishikawa, Kosuke Yamada, Takamasa Ikeda, Hiroyuki Kawasaki and Shinya Ito. PHOTOS: OSAKA PREFECTURAL POLICE

David Sun
Crime Correspondent

Sep 20, 2024

SINGAPORE - The head of a syndicate in Japan accused of laundering some 70 billion yen (S$628.7 million) for criminals there had a home in Singapore and was appointed director of a software firm here, The Straits Times has found.
Sotaro Ishikawa, who fled Japan in February amid an investigation by the police, led the Rivaton Group.
The criminal syndicate is believed to comprise more than 40 people.
The 35-year-old lived in a condominium in Bukit Timah, and was registered as the director of a local software company, also named Rivaton, in March.
Checks by ST showed that a number of others in the syndicate were also appointed directors of companies in Singapore over the last two years.
Rivaton’s second in command, Kosuke Yamada, was appointed director of local software company KO Enterprise Next in September 2023.
The 39-year-old, who goes by Yamada Kosuke here, also has a registered address in Singapore at the same condo as Ishikawa.

Both men told the Japanese authorities they were Singapore residents when they were arrested on July 9, after flying back to Japan from Dubai, reported Japanese news agency Jiji Press.
The third-ranking officer of the group – Takamasa Ikeda, 38 – was arrested on Sept 2 at Kansai International Airport after taking a flight from Singapore to Japan.
Ikeda has a registered address in Singapore at a landed property in Novena. He became the director of local advertising company Glosal in April.

According to the Osaka Prefectural Police, the group had systematically set up shell companies in Japan from 2021, and used the corporate accounts of these companies to launder criminal funds linked to scams and illegal gambling.
At least 4,000 accounts and 500 companies involved in the scheme have been uncovered by the Japanese authorities so far.
On May 21, the police arrested 12 people linked to the group in Toyama, Japan.
The authorities in Japan released a wanted notice in August with the names and pictures of the five alleged leaders of the group who reportedly left the country between January and April.
They include Ishikawa, Ikeda and Yamada.
Two others were arrested in the Philippines, including Hiroyuki Kawasaki, 37.

He was about to board a flight to Singapore on Aug 14 when he was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila by the Philippine authorities, reported NHK.
Business records show he became the director of local consultancy firm Hero Intercontinental in March.
The fifth wanted man – Shinya Ito, 37 – had initially fled to Taiwan before flying to the Philippines to hide. He was arrested there on Sept 9.
The Philippines does not currently have an extradition treaty with Japan, but Japanese news outlets have reported that both Kawasaki and Ito are expected to be sent back and handed over to the Japanese authorities in due course.
Checks by ST found that Ishikawa, Ikeda, Yamada and Kawasaki still have valid employment passes here.

Singapore PR​

The Singapore companies linked to the wanted men were all set up by a lawyer who is a Japanese citizen and a Singapore permanent resident.
He is registered with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority as a corporate service provider.
He said he set up the companies on the instructions of lawyers at two different firms, and added that he had performed due diligence checks on the Japanese men and their purported business dealings.
“Even though (the law firms) had conducted their own checks to meet the regulatory requirements, I met the suspects via Zoom as well as in person in Japan for verification purposes, and I visited their office in Japan for further verifications and due diligence and to witness their passports,” he said.
“After the whole $3 billion money laundering case in Singapore, I was extra careful. But there was nothing that appeared to be suspicious.”
He said that he questioned the men about their source of wealth and why they wanted to set up companies here.

The men told him the money was from the Rivaton Group, which at the time appeared to be a legitimate business, and that they wanted to set up the companies here for tax purposes.
He said that, as a lawyer, he knew the importance of conducting thorough checks to prevent money laundering.
His checks showed that the men lived in rented properties in Singapore and did not appear to own luxury vehicles.
They relied on public transport instead.
He said that he flew to Japan twice to check their identities and office premises, and found the business set-up to be normal.
The lawyer said he last met the men in April.
Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun reported that the Rivaton Group, which claims to be a payment solutions provider, had allegedly laundered funds for multiple criminal groups.
A senior police official was quoted saying the Rivaton Group operated just like a normal company, with members typically working office hours, attending meetings and being paid a salary.
The company had a handbook on how to answer questions from auditors and financial institutions to avoid suspicion.
The syndicate has been accused of using a system that automatically transferred funds from one bank account to another, with transfers triggered by either account balances or time passed.

Ishikawa, Yamada and Ikeda were the top brass, while a layer of executives split into different departments reported to them.
These departments included one that managed the automated system, another that oversaw transfers, and another that handled the opening of accounts and responding to queries from financial institutions.
A third tier of low-level collaborators was recruited through social networking sites to set up the shell companies.
The group also set up bases in Tokyo and Toyama, so it could still operate in the event of a system outage.
The lawyer in Singapore said he was shocked when he recognised one of the men arrested in the probe in Japan.
He immediately filed a suspicious transaction report here and contacted the Japanese police with information.
Shortly after, he flew to Japan to provide more details on the possible whereabouts of the wanted men, who were later arrested.
The lawyer said he has not been contacted by the Singapore authorities in relation to his suspicious transaction report or the case involving the Rivaton Group, but added that he has been cooperating with the Japanese authorities.
He said: “I want the Singapore authorities to contact me, actually, so that they’ll know I did my best and there was nothing else I could do.”

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Jail for man who plotted with colleague to take electrical cable worth S$100,000 from IMH worksite, sell it for personal gain​

Ooi Boon Keong/TODAY
A view of the entrance to the State Courts building.

• Palanivel Vijayasankar, 43, was sentenced to 18 months’ jail for criminal breach of trust
• He had hatched a plot with his colleague to misappropriate more than 1,000 metres of excess electrical cable from a worksite
• The total value of the cable was nearly S$103,000
• They sold the cable to a third-party for S$45,000 and split the profits equally

By

Nicole Lam​

Published August 23, 2024

SINGAPORE — An operations manager at an electrical engineering company misappropriated more than S$100,000 worth of electrical cable from a worksite and sold it to a third party for S$45,000.
For his actions, Palanivel Vijayasankar, a 43-year-old from India, was sentenced on Friday (Aug 23) to 18 months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal breach of trust.
His colleague, Andiyappan Palanivelu, also from India, is a co-accused in this case.
Court documents stated that the two men plotted to sell off excess electrical cable from a worksite.
Andiyappan, then an operations supervisor, left Singapore on April 24 and has yet to return.

He and Palanivel, an operations manager at the time, worked at Donjon, a company that installs, upgrades and replaces electrical equipment.
As operations manager, Palanivel was tasked with supervising company projects and ensuring their successful execution. He was also authorised to procure raw materials for the projects that he supervised.

WHAT HAPPENED​

In 2021, Palanivel was tasked to supervise a project with the Institute of Mental Health (IMH).
Andiyappan was tasked to assist him on the project and reported directly to the Palanivel. The worksite was located around 10 Buangkok View and involved electrical works on existing buildings there.
A total of 5,312m of XLPE electrical cable was needed to complete the electrical works.
An XLPE cable is a strong, heat-resistant electrical wire used to carry power in underground or industrial areas safely.

From August to October last year, Palanivel arranged for the cable to be procured and delivered to the worksite.
Court documents stated that the total price of the cable was S$423,200.
On May 7, Donjon received an invoice for the project at IMH. The invoice stated that the total length of cable used at the worksite was 4,800m.
The company’s deputy general noticed the discrepancy between the length of the electrical cable stated in the invoice and the amount procured by the man.
The deputy general sent the company’s surveyor to the worksite to perform an inspection.
The personnel found that the actual length used was only 4,020m and there was a difference of 1,292m between the length of cable that Palanivel had procured and the length of cable used.

The total value of the missing cable was S$102,931.93.
When confronted about the discrepancy, Palanivel initially claimed that the excess 1,292m of cable was already used or left unused at the worksite.
However, on May 29, he contacted one of the company directors and confessed that he and his colleague had sold off the 1,292m for personal gain.
A Donjon staff member made a police report the next day stating that Palanivel had misappropriated the cable.
When questioned by the police, he admitted that he had discussed with Andiyappan how to deal with the excess electrical cable.
Court documents stated that both of them had come up with the idea of selling the excess cable and splitting the sale proceeds in half.

Andiyappan then sold the excess cable to a third-party buyer between February and April for around S$45,000.
Andiyappan handed Palanivel around S$22,500 as his share of the sale proceeds. The court heard that Palanivel remitted the money back to India and cannot make restitution.
Palanivel appeared in court in person and was represented by lawyer Manickavasagam RM Karuppiah Pillai from law firm Manicka & Co.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Andrew Chia sought a sentence of between 17 and 20 months’ jail.
He said that "the offence involved a certain level of premeditation", given that Palanivel had discussed with the co-accused how to deal with the excess cable before coming to an agreement.
For criminal breach of trust, Palanivel could have been jailed for up to 15 years and fined.

 

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Jail and fine for mastermind of cryptocurrency investment scam where victims lost $1.1m​

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Aug 26, 2024

SINGAPORE – A mastermind of an elaborate scam ran a firm offering cryptocurrency investment schemes, in which 12 investors parted with more than $1.8 million in total.
In reality, the company, identified as A&A Blockchain Innovation, was operating a Ponzi scheme with no actual profit-generating business, and some investors were paid “returns” with money from the other investors.
Multiple investors did not receive such “returns” and lost a total of around $1.1 million.
On Aug 26, Dutch national Yang Bin, who operated A&A without a valid work pass and recruited foreigners to work for it without similar documents, was sentenced to six years’ jail and a fine of $16,000.
He will spend an additional 40 days behind bars if he fails to fork out the fine amount.
Yang, who has made no restitution, had pleaded guilty to six cheating charges and two charges relating to the employment of foreigners. Eleven other charges were considered during sentencing.
On Aug 26, Deputy Public Prosecutor Wong Shiau Yin told the court that between May 2021 and February 2022, A&A attracted investments from more than 700 parties in Singapore, amounting to around $6.7 million.

Court documents did not disclose if these 700 investors were linked to Yang’s cheating offences.
Yang was the second person involved in the scam to be dealt with in court. Chinese national Wang Xinghong, 40, pleaded guilty to six cheating charges and was sentenced to five years’ jail on Aug 6.
These cases involving two other Chinese nationals – Chen Wei, 43, and Lu Huangbin, 60 – are pending.

At the time of the offences, Yang was the chairman of A&A, which was incorporated on April 20, 2021.
The DPP said that Yang had engaged Lu, Chen and Wang to join the firm. She added that Yang was the overall person in charge of A&A, while the trio reported to him.
Between May 20 that year and Feb 15, 2022, the firm offered the “A&A chain mining scheme” to investors in Singapore.
Under this scheme, A&A promised investors a fixed daily return of 0.5 per cent on their investments, which would purportedly be derived from the mining of cryptocurrencies.

In its marketing materials to investors, which included promotional videos, A&A claimed it had entered into an agreement with a firm called Yunnan Shun Ai Yun Xun Investment Holdings to acquire 70 per cent ownership of 300,000 mining machines in China, which could mine cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
A&A claimed it would generate the revenue for returns through the mining of cryptocurrency by using these machines.
In addition, the company developed an app that investors could use to purchase A&A “tokens” to invest in the mining scheme.
Crypto platform Coinbase describes mining as the process that several cryptocurrencies use to generate new coins and verify new transactions.
DPP Wong said: “In reality, A&A did not enter into an agreement with Yunnan Holdings to acquire 70 per cent ownership of 300,000 mining machines. In fact, A&A did not mine cryptocurrency to generate revenue.”
Yang had engaged Wang to develop the app, where investors could monitor their purported 0.5 per cent daily returns.
In earlier proceedings, the court heard that the app was a centralised software where system managers based in China could input random numbers to falsely reflect investor returns.
Court documents stated that Yang had directed Chen to collect cash from various investors. Yang then used the money for his personal expenses.
Yang had also come up with the false representation that A&A owned 300,000 physical mining machines in Yunnan.

“He tasked Lu, whom he had placed in charge of marketing, to spread this false representation to investors at A&A marketing events,” said the DPP.
Separately, she told the court that Yang entered Singapore on a social visit pass on or around April 8, 2021.
He later ran A&A without a valid work pass until around Feb 15, 2022. The company also employed Lu as its chief executive, even though he did not have a similar document.
Yang was arrested on Aug 16, 2023, and has been in remand since. The authorities managed to seize $100,000 from his home, which he admitted belonged to A&A’s investors

 

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Fine for woman who lied about miscarriage at KKH and Wake Up, Singapore founder who ran the story​

Wake Up, Singapore founder Ariffin Iskandar Sha Ali Akbar published the story just 20 minutes after e-mailing KKH, before the hospital could reply. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

Wong Shiying

Aug 28, 2024

SINGAPORE – A woman who fabricated a story about suffering a miscarriage at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) and the founder of alternative news site Wake Up, Singapore (WUSG), who published the false account, were both fined by a district court on Aug 26.
Ma Su Nandar Htwe, a 28-year-old Myanmar national and Singapore permanent resident, and WUSG’s founder Ariffin Iskandar Sha Ali Akbar, a 27-year-old Singaporean, each pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal defamation.
Ma Su Nandar Htwe, who admitted to submitting the fake story because she “wanted drama”, was fined $10,000.
Ariffin was fined $8,000. He published the story just 20 minutes after e-mailing KKH, before the hospital could reply.
The court heard that Ma Su Nandar Htwe sent the false account to WUSG’s Instagram account on March 21, 2022. In it, she claimed she tested positive for Covid-19 in February 2022 when she was 20 weeks pregnant.
She claimed she arrived at KKH at 2pm that day and started bleeding from her vagina at about 5pm. She said she could see a doctor only at 6pm and he told her: “No need ultrasound, the baby is probably dead, this is too much bleeding.”
She claimed she “expelled” the baby on a hospital bed and lost consciousness. She added that she later asked for her baby’s body to give it a proper burial but was told by KKH that the foetus had been “disposed of as medical waste”.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sheldon Lim said all her claims were lies, except the fact that she was pregnant when she visited KKH on Feb 28 to seek treatment for Covid-19 and abdominal pain.
She was discharged from KKH on the same day in good health and delivered her son safely on July 6, 2022.
DPP Lim said Ma Su Nandar Htwe sent WUSG the fabricated story to harm KKH’s reputation.

After receiving her messages, Ariffin asked her for medical documents to support her claims. The woman sent him a scanned copy of a medical receipt from KKH dated Feb 28, 2022.
On March 23, Ariffin sent an e-mail to notify KKH that WUSG intended to run the story and asked if KKH wanted to respond.
He did not wait for KKH to respond and published the story on WUSG’s website and its Instagram and Facebook pages just 20 minutes after sending the e-mail.
The story, which was later taken down, was titled, The Baby Is Probably Dead – Woman Shares Harrowing Account Of Her Miscarriage At KKH A&E. It was picked up and published by other local news outlets.
KKH did its own investigations and found major discrepancies between Ma Su Nandar Htwe’s account and its medical records.
When a senior manager at the hospital contacted Ma Su Nandar Htwe on March 24, she said her legal team had advised her not to speak about the matter.
The next day, she ignored four calls from the hospital. She later e-mailed KKH to say she stood by her account in the story.
At about 1pm on March 25, Ariffin published an update to the story on WUSG’s Facebook page, questioning why KKH had said it was unable to identify the patient in the story when it had been communicating with Ma Su Nandar Htwe.

KKH made a police report shortly after the update. At around 4pm that day, Ariffin took down the story and update from WUSG’s website and social media accounts.
When he messaged the woman to check on her, she admitted that her account was untrue. She told him: “I sent you things in the heat of the moment because I was also agonising over the loss of a previous miscarriage, which was handled by KKH.”
This claim of a previous miscarriage was also false.
When Ariffin learnt the story was fake, he apologised to KKH and asked to be put in touch with the investigation officer handling the case.
He published an article on March 26 to explain to readers that WUSG had been deceived by the woman. He also complied with a correction direction under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act issued by the Ministry of Health.
The prosecution sought a fine of $9,000 to $10,000 for Ma Su Nandar Htwe and a fine of $8,000 to $9,000 for Ariffin.
DPP Lim said she had fabricated a grave allegation against a public hospital during a global pandemic. “She constructed such an appalling lie for an utterly frivolous reason – to stir up some drama as a cure for her boredom,” he added.
As for Ariffin, the DPP said his desire to gain traction on WUSG’s online pages outweighed the need for journalistic integrity.
“Ariffin was not whispering gossip to a single friend – he utilised his media platform to propagate the story without conducting the most basic checks,” said DPP Lim.
In mitigation, the woman’s lawyer, Ms Jacintha Gopal, said her client was going through a difficult pregnancy during the pandemic and her behaviour was “out of character”.
Ariffin’s lawyers, Mr Eugene Thuraisingam and Mr Gino Hardial Singh, said their client made every effort to correct the record in a timely fashion when he found out the story was untrue.
In his oral remarks, District Judge Shawn Ho said the pair’s actions were irresponsible, adding that they harmed KKH’s reputation and weakened the public’s trust in Singapore’s healthcare system.
For criminal defamation, an offender can be jailed for up to two years and fined.

 

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Jail for man who gave over $235,000 in bribes to a Singapore zoo director​

Chong Chee Wai pleaded guilty to five graft charges involving $142,000. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Aug 27, 2024

SINGAPORE – The sole proprietor of a maintenance and renovation company gave bribes totalling more than $235,000 to a director of facilities management at the Singapore Zoological Gardens.
The attraction, now known as the Singapore Zoo, was a subsidiary of Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS).
The prosecution said Chong Chee Wai, who owned Katana Engineering at the time of the offences, gave the bribes to Barry Chong Peng Wee, 57, who has since left WRS, now known as the Mandai Wildlife Group.
As a result of the corrupt arrangement, WRS awarded contracts worth nearly $1.93 million to Katana Engineering. Court documents did not disclose details about the works stated in the contracts.
On Aug 27, Chong Chee Wai, a 48-year-old Malaysian with Singapore permanent residency, was sentenced to 14 months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to five graft charges involving $142,000.
Fifteen other charges relating to the remaining amount were considered during sentencing. He committed the offences in 2014 and 2015.
Too Say Kiong, then 57, who was involved in the pair’s case, was sentenced to two years and two months’ jail in October 2023. Barry Chong’s case is pending.

A search with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority revealed that Chong Chee Wai no longer owns Katana Engineering.
At the time of the offences, Too was a foreman at a firm called Shin Yong Construction (SYC).
Deputy public prosecutors Kelvin Chong, Shamini Joseph and Darren Sim stated in court documents on Aug 27 that Barry Chong entered into a corrupt arrangement in 2005 with SYC’s key personnel, including Too.

The DPPs told the court that Barry Chong would ensure WRS-related jobs were awarded to SYC in exchange for monetary commissions.
They added that some time in late 2013 or early 2014, Barry Chong and Too came up with an arrangement in which Too would look for other contractors to take part in the corrupt arrangement.
Too then approached Chong Chee Wai, who agreed to participate in it.
Court documents stated that as part of the deal, Barry Chong would ensure that jobs were awarded to Katana Engineering in exchange for commissions.

The DPPs said: “Barry would tell the accused through Too a specific price to bid at... The accused would then get Katana to put in a bid at that price, which required the accused to prepare an inflated invoice or quotation.
“The quotations received by WRS would be collated and presented to Barry and the managers working under him, who would generally award the job to the lowest quote received.”
The court heard that Barry Chong and Too also got other contractors to put in bids that were higher than those Katana Engineering had submitted, to ensure that the jobs would be awarded to it.
The DPPs said that Barry Chong would also inform Too of the amounts to be paid to him.
After that, Too would collect the monies from Chong Chee Wai and deliver them to Barry Chong.
In total, Too received around $10,000 from Chong Chee Wai for facilitating this corrupt arrangement.
WRS suffered a loss of more than $235,000 due to the inflated invoices.
The scheme ended when the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau started its investigation into the case in October 2016.
Chong Chee Wai is expected to begin serving his sentence on Sept 27. His bail has been set at $50,000.

 

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Ex-yoga instructor gets nearly 2 years’ jail, caning for molesting 3 women during classes​

Former yoga instructor Rajpal Singh was sentenced to 23 months’ jail and four strokes of the cane on Aug 30. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Aug 30, 2024


SINGAPORE – A former yoga instructor was sentenced to 23 months’ jail and four strokes of the cane on Aug 30 for molesting three women when he was conducting classes with them.
At the time of the offences, Indian national Rajpal Singh, 35, was working at Trust Yoga in Telok Ayer Street, where all three victims were members. He no longer conducts lessons there.
Before handing down the sentence, District Judge Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz said that Singh had abused the trust placed in him by the three women, whom she referred to as Ms C, Ms V and Ms R.
She also said that the trio had suffered emotional and psychological harm.
The judge said that Ms C has been receiving therapy from a counsellor, adding: “(She) testified that she had regarded yoga classes as ‘a safe space’ and had not expected to have been violated during a yoga class by a teacher who was in a position of authority in the room.”
The judge added that Ms V had testified that she remains “very affected” by her ordeal and described it as a “very traumatic experience”.
“Ms R... shared that it took her several months to process the ‘trauma’ with a therapist,” said the judge, who also noted that all three victims no longer practise yoga.

After a 13-day trial, she convicted Singh on May 16 of five molestation charges involving the three women. She had found that the trio were “unusually convincing” witnesses.
Singh was acquitted of three other molestation charges involving a fourth woman, Ms Y.
Ms C, who was 24 at the time, attended Singh’s class from 4.30pm to 5.30pm on July 11, 2020. A CCTV camera recorded the session, and its footage was admitted as an exhibit during the trial.

Ms C was in a yoga position called a “forward fold” when he molested her. She was in another pose when he outraged her modesty again.
Deputy public prosecutors Selene Yap and Gladys Lim had earlier said in their submissions: “(She) felt violated and did not expect to be molested in class by a teacher. She expected yoga classes to be a safe space and was confused about how to react.”
Ms C later told a friend and her mother what had happened.
Ms V, who was then around 24 years old, attended classes from Sept 30, 2019, to July 29, 2020, and Singh molested her twice within that time.
During the trial, she stated that she saw Singh as a properly trained instructor who should have known how to appropriately adjust students’ poses.
The DPPs said this made it difficult for her to accept or believe that he would have molested her.
The court heard that initially she had a strong desire to ignore the incident, but she spoke to Ms C and finally alerted the police on Aug 29, 2020.
Ms R was 28 years old when Singh molested her during a class in November 2019. She felt disoriented, confused, shocked and angry.
On Aug 5, 2020, she found out by chance on social media that he had also molested Ms C. Ms R communicated with her via Instagram before alerting the police that day.
Singh had denied molesting the women. Among other things, he said that if he had touched Ms V and Ms R, he had done so to adjust their poses.
On Aug 30, defence lawyer Anil Murkoth Changaroth said that his client will be appealing against his conviction and sentence. His bail was set at $50,000.
Singh still has two pending molestation charges and his pre-trial conference involving them will be held on Sept 16.

 

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Bus driver jailed for causing death of cyclist, 18, in Yishun accident​

The accident happened at the junction of Yishun Avenue 2 and Yishun Ring Road on July 12, 2023. PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS
Andrew Wong

Sep 02, 2024

SINGAPORE – A tour bus driver failed to slow down upon reaching a discretionary left turn in Yishun Ring Road, colliding with an 18-year-old cyclist who was later pronounced dead at the scene.
Appearing in court via video link on Sept 2, Chinese national Yuan Changqing, 38, sobbed as footage from his vehicle’s camera of the July 12, 2023, accident was played in court.
He was sentenced to 10 months’ jail after pleading guilty to one charge of careless driving causing death. He will also be disqualified from all classes of driving licences for eight years.
At the time, he was employed by local bus chartering firm Leisure Frontier.
The court heard that Yuan had been fined for two counts of careless driving and one count of speeding on three separate occasions between 2019 and 2021.
After his record was read out in court, Yuan attributed the two careless driving offences to insufficient rest time amid a busy work schedule arranged by his company.
He added that the speeding offence occurred during the Covid-19 outbreak, when his company had asked its drivers to shuttle foreign workers to their dormitories.

“Our work schedules were very packed, and I kept rushing, which may have led to me breaking traffic rules,” he said.
On July 12, 2023, Yuan was driving his tour bus as part of a shuttle service linking Yishun, Canberra and Sembawang.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Sean Teh said that as Yuan approached a discretionary left turn in Yishun Ring Road, he failed to slow down or notice Malaysian national Jeffson Tang, who wanted to cycle across the pedestrian crossing.

A discretionary turn refers to a turn at signalised junctions without the aid of red-amber-green arrows.
Video played in court showed Yuan making the left turn without slowing down.
The flashing green man on the pedestrian crossing indicated that there were six seconds left for people to get across the road.
The prosecutor said Yuan stopped only when he heard a sound from the bus’ rear left tyre.
When he got out of the bus, he saw Mr Tang lying on the ground with blood pooling around his head. He then called the police.
DPP Teh said the impact of the collision flung Mr Tang off his bicycle and into the path of the bus, causing him to land under it.

Mr Tang’s father, who was with him, immediately attended to his son. The video footage played in court showed another man cycling ahead of Mr Tang, but the prosecution did not point out if the person was his father.
When the paramedics arrived, they observed that Mr Tang had suffered multiple abrasions to his lower limbs and injuries to his head. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
An autopsy report later revealed that Mr Tang’s death was due to head and chest injuries consistent with those sustained in a motor vehicle accident.
When asked if he had anything to say in mitigation, Yuan said: “I wish to express my apologies to the family of the deceased. It’s too late to say anything else now.”
First-time offenders found guilty of careless driving causing death can be jailed for up to three years, fined up to $10,000, or both.