Foreign talent's contributions to Singapore

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Jail for man who molested family friend’s 13-year-old daughter​

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Sep 02, 2024

SINGAPORE – He was a family friend, and a 13-year-old girl trusted him enough to go on a motorcycle ride with him and later agree to sit on his lap near a playground in Sembawang.
The man then molested the girl before taking her back home later that evening in October 2022.
The 52-year-old Indian national, who cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the girl’s identity, pleaded guilty to a molestation charge and was sentenced to 14 months’ jail on Sept 2.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Suriya Prakash told the court that the man often visited the girl and her mother at their home.
Some time before 7pm on Oct 26, 2022, the mother contacted the man and asked him to bring them dinner.
He turned up at their home that evening and played chess with the victim.
The prosecutor said: “The accused then asked the victim if she wanted to go on a joyride alone with him on his motorcycle. The victim agreed.

“The victim’s mother also consented to the accused bringing the victim on the joyride alone and entrusted the victim in the accused’s custody.”
The man then rode his motorcycle with the girl riding pillion.
They went to a shop at Sembawang Shopping Centre, where he bought her a drawing block holder, a notebook and a sticker pad.
He then asked the girl to accompany him to a nearby beach. She initially declined to do so but gave in when he persuaded her to come along.
They reached a playground near Wak Hassan Drive, and he sat on a bench before asking the girl to sit on his lap. After she complied, the man molested the girl.
Feeling very uncomfortable with his touches, she stood up and asked him to take her home. They arrived back home at around 8.45pm.
Court documents did not disclose what happened next, but the man was later charged in court in 2023.
For molesting a child below 14 years old, an offender can be jailed for up to five years, fined, caned or receive any combination of such punishments.
The man cannot be caned as he is above the age of 50.

 

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Ex-maid barred from working in S’pore for breaching work pass conditions; was acquitted of false declaration charge​

Ms Alka was issued a stern warning in August by the Ministry of Manpower for breaching her work pass conditions. PHOTOS: ALKA, LIANHE ZAOBAO

Joyce Lim
Senior Correspondent

Sep 05, 2024

SINGAPORE – A former domestic helper from India, who was acquitted of a false declaration charge in July, has been barred from working in Singapore.
Ms Alka, 44, who goes by one name, was issued a stern warning in August by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) for breaching her work pass conditions.
The breach involved her failure to “reside at her employer’s residential address, as stated in her work permit”, said an MOM spokesman in response to queries from The Straits Times.
“Alka has been barred from future employment in Singapore,” the spokesman added.
The Indian national was repatriated on Aug 16.
Ms Alka told ST in a phone interview from Delhi that the warning had dashed her hopes of returning to Singapore for work.
“I am devastated,” she said. “My parents have passed away, and I don’t have family in India. My family is in Singapore. I got married in Singapore on Aug 5. I have been staying in Singapore for the past 10 years.”

She was shocked to learn of the ban, particularly as it came after what seemed to be a legal victory for her in July.
“I requested to stay in Singapore to work,” said Ms Alka. “But the MOM officer told me I need to go back to India and apply for a new work pass to return to Singapore for work.”
She first came here to work as a domestic worker in 2014. In October 2017, her then employer told her that her services were no longer required.

She told her boyfriend in Singapore that she wished to remain here, and he subsequently introduced her to Mr Anil Tripathi.
Ms Alka struck an agreement with Mr Anil that she would cook for him three to four times a week, and he would be listed as her employer, allowing her to remain in Singapore with her boyfriend.
On Dec 22, 2017, Ms Alka signed and submitted an application form for a domestic helper to MOM, declaring that Mr Anil was her employer.

On Oct 15, 2018, she was arrested by MOM officers for working as a sales assistant at a clothing store in Serangoon Road.
Ms Alka pleaded guilty to working as a sales assistant without a valid work pass, and was fined $4,500. She did not appeal against the fine.
She was also charged with making a false declaration in her work pass application, declaring that she was employed by Mr Anil as a foreign domestic worker when she “did not have the intention to be employed as such”.
The offence carries a fine of up to $20,000 or a jail sentence of up to two years, or both.
In 2023, Ms Alka was convicted and sentenced to 10 weeks’ jail.
She appealed against her conviction and was acquitted by the High Court on July 25, 2024.
In her appeal, her lawyer, Mr Sarbrinder Singh of Sanders Law, argued that there was no false declaration as Ms Alka had indeed worked for Mr Anil, albeit in an informal capacity.
High Court Justice Aedit Abdullah said the definition of employment was broad enough to cover occasional cooking or other minor work, done for no pay. He also found that the evidence presented during the trial did not support the charge.
In the light of the High Court’s decision to acquit Ms Alka, Mr Singh urged the authorities to review the migrant domestic worker application form so that an applicant has a clear understanding of the seriousness of the declaration and the precise scope of the required employment in Singapore when applying for a job.
Said the MOM spokesman: “(We) constantly review our legislation and processes to remain responsive to the changing landscape. Where necessary, we will make changes after careful deliberation and consultation with stakeholders.

 

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Project manager linked to over $88k in bribes to zoo director gets more than 4 months’ jail​

Chong Yun Chia, a project manager at construction firm KK Iron Engineering at the time of the offences, was also ordered to pay a penalty of $38,174. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Sep 04, 2024

SINGAPORE – A man who worked with three others to give more than $88,000 in bribes to the facilities management director at the Singapore Zoological Gardens was sentenced to four months and 10 weeks’ jail on Sept 4.
Chong Yun Chia, 40, a project manager at construction firm KK Iron Engineering (KKI) at the time of the offences, was also ordered to pay a penalty of $38,174.
The Malaysian will spend an additional 38 days behind bars if he fails to pay this penalty.
He had already pleaded guilty to five graft charges on May 2, and 19 other charges were considered during sentencing.
The Singapore Zoological Gardens, now known as the Singapore Zoo, was a subsidiary of Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS), which also managed the Night Safari.
Chong Yun Chia was one of four men involved in a conspiracy to give bribes to Barry Chong Peng Wee, 57, over four occasions in 2016.
This was done to advance KKI’s business interests with WRS, now known as the Mandai Wildlife Group.

Due to the corrupt arrangement, WRS awarded multiple contracts to KKI worth more than $1 million.
It is estimated that WRS suffered a loss of at least $88,350 as a result of marked-up prices submitted under the corrupt arrangement related to Chong Yun Chia’s charges.
In earlier proceedings, the prosecution told the court that Chong Yun Chia had worked with Koh Kian Hee, To Chai Kiat and Toh Yong Soon to give the bribes to Barry Chong, who has since left WRS.

At the time of the offences, Koh, 42, was a director and shareholder at construction firm Geoscapes, while To, 50, was the sole director of KKI.
Toh, 39, was then a project manager at a firm called Shin Yong Construction (SYC).
To was sentenced to nine months’ jail on July 2, while Toh was ordered to spend three years and three months behind bars on May 3. The cases involving Koh and Barry Chong are still pending.

The prosecution said that in 2005, Barry Chong entered into a corrupt arrangement with key personnel of SYC to ensure that WRS-related jobs were awarded to SYC in exchange for monetary commission.
Toh began managing SYC’s operations 10 years later and continued with this arrangement.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Kelvin Chong, Shamini Joseph and Darren Sim stated in court documents: “Toh was to recruit other contractors into the arrangement... Barry would tell Toh a specific price to bid at to ensure that a job was awarded by WRS to SYC or the other contractors.
“Toh and the group of contractors would then collude to put in bids for WRS jobs at the specified prices, where some parties would put in bids higher than the bid price given by Barry.”
The quotations WRS received were presented to Barry Chong, and the managers working under him would generally award the jobs to the lowest quotes received.
The prosecution told the court that Toh later recruited Koh into the scheme and, in turn, Koh roped in To.
To then recruited Chong Yun Chia when the latter began working as a project manager for KKI.
In 2014, Chong Yun Chia and To jointly founded a company called Onesta Projects.
The prosecution told the court that around January 2016, Koh asked To to generate fictitious invoices for him to help mask an audit trail of “commissions” that Geoscapes had been paying Barry Chong in exchange for WRS-related jobs.
Even though To refused to do so, Chong Yun Chia agreed to help Koh and liaised directly with him. He then received more than $92,000 in bribes from Koh, the court heard.
Chong Yun Chia’s bail was set at $50,000 on Sept 4, and he is expected to begin serving his sentence on Oct 2.

 

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5 Gurkha Contingent officers ran illegal money transfer services; 1 case involved nearly $3m​

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Sep 06, 2024

SINGAPORE – Five officers from the Gurkha Contingent (GC) operated unlawful cross-border money transfer services, with each man’s case involving between $103,473 and more than $2.86 million.
They were given jail sentences on Sept 5 after they pleaded guilty to charges under the Payment Services Act (PSA).
Sitaram Tamang’s case involved over $2.86 million in total, and he was handed the stiffest sentence of five months’ jail.
The 40-year-old man had pleaded guilty to a charge under the PSA involving nearly $1.6 million. Three other charges linked to the remaining amount were considered during sentencing.
Dik Bahadur Gurung, 32, was sentenced to 14 weeks’ jail after he pleaded guilty to two charges relating to more than $1 million in total.
Ganga Prasad Rai, 43, pleaded guilty to two charges involving more than $600,000 and was sentenced to 10 weeks’ jail.
Ashok Kumar Thapa Magar, 39, and Mingmar Sherpa, 44, each pleaded guilty to one charge under the PSA.

Mingmar’s case involved nearly $472,000, and he was sentenced to seven weeks’ jail, while Ashok, whose case was linked to more than $103,000, was ordered to spend four weeks behind bars.
In a statement to The Straits Times on Sept 6, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said that it started its investigation against the five men when the offences came to light and they were immediately removed from frontline duties.
An SPF spokesperson added that the agency will start internal action against the GC officers after their Sept 5 conviction and sentencing.

The prosecution said that a sixth man, identified as Mr Pratik Tamang, 41, is linked to some of the charges.
He joined the GC in 2004 and returned to Nepal in February 2022 after his retirement. He is still at large.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Brian Tan told the court that some time on or before June 2021, Mr Pratik began offering a money remittance service to the other GC officers within their camp.
According to court documents, he later recruited Ganga and Dik to work with him in offering such services. He also engaged Sitaram to help him collect the money.
Mr Pratik was already in Nepal when Sitaram worked with him between February and July 2022 to provide an unlawful payment service in Singapore.

DPP Tan said: “Under the arrangement, GC officers looking to remit money from Singapore dollars to Nepalese rupees (NPR) from Singapore to Nepal would contact Pratik via his mobile number.
“After informing Pratik of the amount in dollars that they were looking to remit back, Pratik would first transfer the equivalent amount in NPR to the remitters’ beneficiaries in Nepal.”
He would then ask the remitters to contact Sitaram in Singapore to transfer the equivalent value in dollars to Sitaram’s bank account linked to payment platform PayNow.
Nearly $1.6 million involving 111 deposits went through the bank account.
After that, Sitaram would arrange to hand over the remittance monies in dollars to Mr Pratik, either by PayNow transfers to the latter’s bank account or in cash to Mr Pratik’s friends.
Between February and July 2022, Ganga engaged in a conspiracy with Sitaram and Mr Pratik to offer a cross-border money transfer service. Ganga then collected more than $243,000, which he handed over to Sitaram.
Ganga later broke off his arrangement with Sitaram and Mr Pratik and began working on his own. He provided a similar service from August 2022 to March 2023, involving over $383,000.
Both Sitaram and Ganga did not make any profit from the remittances.
Meanwhile, Dik worked together with Sitaram and Mr Pratik to offer such a service between February and July 2022. He collected nearly $550,000, which he handed to Sitaram, the court heard.
He later stopped working with the pair and worked on his own from August 2022 to January 2023, and this offence involved nearly $500,000.
The DPP said that Dik earned an estimated profit of between $1,750 and $2,450.
Separately, the DPP said that Mingmar committed the offences with his Nepalese wife, Ms Pema Sherpa, 43, who is now based in Canada and is still at large.
According to court documents, she started offering a money remittance service to QC officers within their camp in September 2022.

DPP said that as Ms Pema needed a bank account to receive the remittance monies, her husband handed over the details of his bank account to her for this purpose. He also shared his PayNow details with her.
Between September 2022 and March 2023, Mingmar received more than $470,000 in his bank account as remittance through 183 transactions.
In an unrelated case, Ashok, who provided a similar service, received more than $103,000 in his bank account from February to July 2022 as remittance monies through 26 transactions.
The offences involving all five men came to light following a raid of the GC camp near Mount Vernon Road in March 2023.

 

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Jail for motorist who fled to JB after fatal BKE hit-and-run accident​

Pua Yui Loon was jailed for three years and 10 months, and disqualified from driving for 10 years. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

David Sun
Crime Correspondent

Sep 10, 2024

SINGAPORE – After having some drinks at the bar where he worked, Pua Yui Loon, 28, drove on the BKE at an “extreme speed” of 141kmh in the early hours of Feb 6.
The Malaysian then hit a motorcycle, killing the motorcyclist and injuring the pillion rider.
Instead of stopping, Pua drove across the Causeway back to his condominium in Johor Bahru, and was caught when he tried to enter Singapore on a bus the next day.
On Sept 10, Pua was jailed for three years and 10 months, and disqualified from driving for 10 years after pleading guilty to one charge of dangerous driving causing death.
Another five charges, relating to failing to render assistance, failing to report the accident, failing to stop, moving the car and dangerous driving causing hurt, were taken into consideration for the sentence.
On Feb 6, Pua had beer with customers at the lounge bar in Geylang where he worked as a cashier, before leaving the premises at around 1am.
He drove one of his colleagues to Paya Lebar, before driving towards Woodlands Checkpoint via the BKE.

While on the BKE, he drove on the right-most lane of the three-lane expressway at an average speed of at least 141kmh.
At around 1.20am, Pua tried to overtake a motorcycle in front of him in the same lane, squeezing in from the right.
He hit the motorcycle, causing it to overturn behind his car.

The motorcyclist, Mr Joshua Chiam Chee Wai, 22, and his girlfriend, Ms Siti Noor Diyana Abdul Rahim, 23, who was riding pillion, were flung to the ground.
The court heard that Ms Siti, who was conscious, could only watch as her boyfriend lay dying on the ground. She had called out to him but was unable to move as her legs and hands were injured.
Paramedics who arrived at the scene pronounced Mr Chiam dead at around 1.50am. Ms Siti was taken to hospital.
By that time, Pua had driven across the Causeway and parked his car at his condo in Johor Bahru.
The next day, on Feb 7, he tried to enter Singapore on a bus at Woodlands Checkpoint, where he was detained and later arrested.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Natalie Chu had asked the court for a sentence of between four and five years’ jail, citing a need for deterrence as there had been an increase in fatal accidents from 2022 to 2023.
She said Pua’s dangerous driving was extensive and deliberate, and that he had fled the scene and driven to Johor Bahru.
Pua’s lawyer, Mr Bryan Lim from Hoh Law Corporation, had initially asked the court for the minimum sentence of two years’ jail, saying his client was extremely ashamed and deeply regrets his actions.
But District Judge Tan Jen Tse said that a minimum sentence would be “totally wrong”.
He said: “It was not just speeding, it was extremely high speed. How can it be a minimum sentence case? First, he tried to squeeze (past the motorcycle). Second, he was drinking. We just don’t know how much because he had fled the scene.”
Mr Lim then asked the court for a sentence of slightly over two years’ jail.
During sentencing, Judge Tan said the high speed, trying to squeeze past the victim and the consumption of alcohol were all aggravating factors.
For causing death by driving dangerously, Pua could have been jailed for up to eight years.

 

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Jail for ‘glorified secretary’ who facilitated crypto Ponzi scheme that scammed victims of $1.1m​

Chinese national Chen Wei, 43, pleaded guilty to six cheating charges and one charge of not having a valid work pass. PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

David Sun
Crime Correspondent

Sep 12, 2024

SINGAPORE – In name, he was the registered director of the company, but in practice, he was a “glorified secretary” and the personal assistant to the chairman.
Nonetheless, Chen Wei, 43, was a key cog in an elaborate cryptocurrency investment scam that cheated victims of $1.1 million.
On Sept 11, the Chinese national was sentenced to four years’ jail and fined $6,000 after pleading guilty to six charges of cheating and one charge of not having a valid work pass.
Another eight similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.
He will have to serve another 20 days in jail if the fine is not paid.
Chen was the director of A&A Blockchain Technology Innovation, and reported to Dutch national Yang Bin, 61, the company’s chairman and mastermind of the scheme.
The company offered an investment scheme to retail investors, claiming to have 300,000 physical mining machines that could mine cryptocurrency to generate revenue.

But the company did not have such machines and it was all a Ponzi scheme, along with a fake app where investors could monitor their purported 0.5 per cent daily returns.
The app was actually a centralised software program where system managers based in China could input random numbers to falsely reflect investor returns.
A&A was incorporated in April 2021, after which it began offering the A&A Chain Mining Scheme to investors in Singapore.
Between May 2021 and February 2022, the company attracted investments from more than 700 investors in Singapore, amounting to about $6.7 million.
Because it was a Ponzi scheme, some of the investors were paid returns using monies from newer investors.
When the scheme was uncovered, the losses suffered by investors amounted to about $1.1 million.
Yang was jailed for six years and fined $16,000 on Aug 26 after pleading guilty to six cheating charges and two charges relating to the employment of foreigners. Eleven other charges were considered during sentencing.
On Sept 11, Chen’s lawyer Gary Low told the court his client’s role was “highly administrative” and that he was Yang’s “glorified secretary” who did only what he was instructed to do.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Wong Shiau Yin said Chen was certainly not the mastermind, but this did not detract from the role and function he played in the whole scheme, having been the one to collect the cash from investors.
For each count of cheating, he could have been jailed for up to 10 years, on top of a fine.

 

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Cleaner who broke into house and tried to rape woman gets jail, caning​

Selina Lum
Senior Law Correspondent

Sep 16, 2024

SINGAPORE – A 21-year-old cleaner broke into a two-storey house in the middle of the night in 2022 while he was drunk, undeterred even after he cut his hands on barbed wire while climbing over a fence.
After getting into the house through an unlocked window, Andrew Kumaravel searched for money. He then entered a bedroom and tried to rape the 58-year-old woman sleeping there.
She woke up and put up a struggle, and he fled the house, leaving behind his shorts and underwear.
The Malaysian man was arrested on the same day after he was traced through fingerprint analysis.
On Sept 16, Kumaravel, now 23, was sentenced to 9½ years’ jail and six strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted rape, a charge of housebreaking, and a charge of voyeurism for an unrelated incident.
Four other charges, including a charge of voluntarily causing hurt to the woman, were taken into consideration during sentencing.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Claire Poh told the court that on the night of April 14, 2022, Kumaravel was drinking beer and watching pornographic videos on his mobile phone in a storeroom at his workplace, which was in an industrial building separated by fencing from the house next to it.

When he stepped out for a smoke, he spotted the victim changing clothes in her bedroom.
Shortly before 2am the next morning, he decided to break into the house. He first climbed over a barbed wire fence, cutting his hands in the process, then climbed over the metal fence of the house.
As the door to the house was locked, he tested multiple windows and eventually found one that was unlocked.

Once inside, he searched for money on the first floor, then decided to go up to the second floor, knowing that the victim was in one of the rooms.
After opening the door to her room, he took off his shorts and underwear, and placed them by the doorway with his other personal belongings.
He then climbed onto the woman’s bed and restrained her. The woman, who had woken up by this point, shouted and struggled with him on her bed.
Kumaravel choked the victim and tried to pull down her shorts, but she resisted and grabbed his neck.
He bit her finger, and in defence, she bit him on the arm. At some point during the scuffle, he intentionally hit her in the eye.
The woman’s mother, awoken by the commotion, then shouted, asking why there was so much noise.

Fearing he would be caught, Kumaravel stopped struggling with the victim and ran out of her room.
He left the house the same way he had entered, returned to his workplace at about 2.30am, and threw his T-shirt into a dustbin there.
The victim called the police at about 2.40am on April 15. Kumaravel was arrested at about 11.40am that day.
The attempted rape was committed while he was on bail for voyeurism.
Kumaravel used to live with several other people in a unit with just one toilet for them to use.
One of his housemates, a 44-year-old Malaysian woman, spotted his mobile phone placed on a pipe while she was showering on March 5, 2022. She made a police report two days later.
Kumaravel was arrested on March 8, 2022, and released on personal bond. His phone was seized by the police.
Aside from the recorded video of the complainant, the phone contained another video of two other housemates in the shower on March 6, 2022.

 

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4 years' jail, caning for man, 31, who molested woman, pinned her on his bed after shared meal out​

Pixabay

• Bi Ran got drunk while at dinner with a woman he met on a social networking application
• As a private-hire driver refused to take Bi home, the woman decided to let him share her ride and drop him home
• At his home, the woman helped Bi to his room, where Bi held her down on his bed, and touched her both over and underneath her clothing
• On Wednesday (Sept 11), Bi pleaded guilty to one charge of using criminal force with the intent of outraging her modesty
• He was sentenced to four years’ jail and four strokes of the cane

By

Deborah Lau​

Published September 11, 2024

SINGAPORE — After getting drunk while at dinner with a woman he met on a social networking application, Bi Ran held the woman down on his bed after she had helped to take him home.
The 31-year-old man from China touched the woman, 30, against her will both over and underneath her clothing despite her repeated protests and resistance.
On Wednesday (Sept 11), Bi pleaded guilty to one charge of using criminal force with the intent of outraging a person’s modesty.
He was sentenced to four years’ jail and four strokes of the cane.
Another two charges were taken into consideration in sentencing.

A court-imposed gag order bans the identification of the victim.

WHAT HAPPENED​

At the time of the offence, Bi was renting a room in a unit which he shared with five other tenants.
The woman worked in Singapore as a preschool teacher.
Sometime in January 2022, Bi and the woman met on Soul, a social networking application, and began chatting. They continued their conversation on messaging platform WeChat.
During their chats, Bi asked the woman to consider dating him. He also asked her out to dinner on a few occasions.
However, she rejected Bi’s advances, and also declined the dinner invitations.

On the evening of Feb 5, 2022, Bi contacted the woman again on WeChat and invited her to dinner at a restaurant in Chinatown.
She initially declined as she needed to run some errands after work. Bi, however, insisted that he was willing to wait for her.
As the woman had not had her dinner yet, she agreed to meet him then.
The pair met in Chinatown for dinner at about 7.45pm that night.
During the dinner, the woman had two 500ml bottles of beer, while Bi drank around five to six bottles of beer.
At around 11pm, both Bi and the woman booked separate private hire cars to head home.

Noting that Bi was intoxicated, his private-hire car driver refused to pick him up.
The woman decided to help Bi to get home, by booking a multi-destination ride — first, to Bi’s home, and then to her home.
When their private-hire car arrived at Bi’s block, the woman helped him out of the car and he sat down on the walkway.
As she was about to leave in the private-hire car, however, a female passerby chided her for leaving Bi by the road without helping him home.
Feeling bad, the woman terminated the rest of her private-hire car trip, and helped Bi back to his home.
Bi handed her keys to his housing unit and room, and the woman helped him to open both the main and room doors. The pair entered Bi’s room sometime around 11.30pm.
Bi laid on his bed and the woman turned to leave the room. As she did so, Bi hooked an arm around the woman’s neck from behind and pulled her onto his bed.
He told her that he wanted to hug her for a while. Thinking it was a friendly gesture, the woman relented.
After a short hug, she tried to stand up to leave.
However, Bi then held her down and pushed her towards the centre of his bed, while kissing her on her face. He also started touching her body.
The woman struggled and tried to push Bi away, while repeatedly telling him that she did not want to have sex with him.
Bi, however, continued to pin her down on his bed and molested her.
He later straddled her and used a sex toy he kept in his side table cabinet to touch her body parts.
The woman continued to struggle and eventually fell off the bed. She shouted for help and told Bi that she would shout even louder.
When he told her not to do so, she quickly gathered her belongings and hurriedly left the unit at around midnight on Feb 6, 2022.
At about 3.30pm that day, the woman made a police report, stating that she was sexually assaulted at Bi’s home the night before.
Bi contacted the woman later that same night, asking if she knew where his spectacles were. He also texted her photographs of his vomit and asked her to take care of him.
The woman ignored his request and blocked him on WeChat.
As Bi continued to repeatedly send her “friend requests” on WeChat, the woman unblocked him the next morning to scold him for what he did the night before. She then ceased further contact with Bi.
The woman underwent a medical examination at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital at about 9.15pm on Feb 6, 2022. She was diagnosed with slight abrasions on her external elbows and her right lower face, which she had sustained as a result of her struggle with Bi.
For wrongfully restraining a person in order to commit an offence, Bi could have been jailed for between two and 10 years, and caned.

 

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Company director to be jailed 42 weeks for false declarations on unexported liquor​

Officers noticed pallets of liquor at the loading bay of the self-storage facility in Old Toh Tuck Road. PHOTOS: SINGAPORE CUSTOMS

Carmen Sin

Sep 19, 2024

SINGAPORE - A man will be jailed for 42 weeks over false declarations on almost 20,000 bottles of liquor that were supposed to be exported, but were found in a storage facility with taxes unpaid.
Alfred James Martin Galistan, 59, was found guilty by the State Courts of instructing a logistics service provider to declare the export of liquor from a licensed warehouse as sea stores – goods meant for use by seamen and passengers on ships outside Singapore waters.
Sea stores are considered exports exempt from goods and services tax (GST) and duty.
However, instead of being delivered to the ships as declared, the liquor was diverted inland without payment of duties and GST owed, Singapore Customs said on Sept 19.
Galistan was fined $567,741.55 in sentencing. He will serve the in-default jail time of 42 weeks in lieu of paying the fine.
In total, $508,610.53 in duties and $59,131.05 in GST went unpaid for the 19,764 bottles of liquor involved.
In an operation on April 9, 2020, Customs officers noticed pallets of liquor at the loading bay of a self-storage facility in Old Toh Tuck Road.

After further checks, they uncovered more liquor in two units at the self-storage facility.
The stock was later established as contraband and found to have been declared as sea stores in export permits that listed Altimate Group as the exporter. Galistan is the company’s director.
Investigations revealed that Galistan had been engaged by an unknown pair to procure liquor from a designated supplier for export.

His company Altimate was to be named as the exporter in the export permits, with the liquor to be sold to a buyer unknown to him.
In return, the unidentified pair allowed Galistan to mark up each carton of liquor by $3 for profit.
Despite never having met the two individuals and his company not being in the business of exporting liquor, Galistan agreed to the proposed arrangement, said Singapore Customs.
He approached a logistics business for the storage of the liquor and declaration of export permits, but did not ensure that the alcohol was exported.

Liquor found in two units of the self-storage facility. PHOTOS: SINGAPORE CUSTOMS
Between January and April 2020, 35 export permits were taken up by Altimate, and it was named the exporter for liquor as sea stores.
Galistan did not conduct any due diligence checks on the two people, nor did he exercise reasonable care in his responsibilities as an exporter, Singapore Customs said.
Stern action will be taken against errant companies named as importers or exporters in permit declarations involving dubious transactions, the authority added.
Those found guilty of making an untrue, incorrect or incomplete declaration, certificate or documentation face a fine of up to $10,000 or equal to the amount of duty or tax owed, whichever is greater, or up to 12 months’ jail, or both.

 

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Seven weeks’ jail for man who attempted to bribe police officers six times with $89​

Andrew Wong

Sep 27, 2024

SINGAPORE – A man sitting by the curbside and drinking beer was asked by two police officers to dispose of his drink as it was past 10.30pm and drinking in public was not allowed after that time.
But Xu Biwei, 28, offered them $89 to leave him alone.
On Sept 27, the Chinese national pleaded guilty to attempting to bribe the police officers and was sentenced to seven weeks’ jail.
Court documents showed that Xu had been drinking at a public carpark located near Angullia Park in Orchard Road on May 7, 2023, at about 11pm.
The two police officers, who were responding to a separate call for assistance in the area, spotted Xu and approached him.
They asked him to empty the beer can and throw it away, but Xu offered them money, which amounted to $89. They rejected the offer and warned him not to offer bribes to police officers.
According to court documents, Xu repeated the offer five more times over a 30-minute period. Each time, the officers warned him not to do so.

The court heard that Xu had initially indicated that he would plead guilty as early as November 2023. He later opted to claim trial on July 10, but reverted to his initial intention to plead guilty on Aug 28.
Those found guilty of offering bribes to police officers or agents can be fined up to $10,000, jailed for up to five years, or both.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

3 weeks’ jail for man who tried to give parking warden $10 bribe​

Chinese national Guo Chuankui pleaded guilty to a graft charge and was sentenced to three weeks’ jail on Oct 4. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Oct 04, 2024

SINGAPORE – Refusing to accept a ticket over a parking offence, a man offered a $10 bribe to a parking warden as he wanted to be let off the hook.
Mr Vikneswaran Kumaran, who was working for Certis Cisco Protection Services at the time, rejected Guo Chuankui’s offer and alerted the police.
Guo, a 46-year-old Chinese national, pleaded guilty to a graft charge and was sentenced to three weeks’ jail on Oct 4.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Da Zhuan, who did not disclose details about the location, said Guo was working as a driver on April 4, 2023, when he illegally parked his company’s vehicle on a road with double yellow lines near a construction site before walking away.
Mr Vikneswaran, who arrived at the scene on a motorcycle, saw the vehicle and printed out a parking ticket notice. Guo returned soon after and saw him trying to place the ticket on the vehicle.
The DPP said: “When the two met, the accused pleaded with Viknes (Mr Vikneswaran)... telling him not to give the ticket.”
Guo asked Mr Vikneswaran how much the fine was, and the latter told him that it was $70. Guo then tried to ask for a smaller amount and even offered to treat the parking warden to some tea.

Mr Vikneswaran rejected the offers and realised by then that Guo would not accept the ticket. The parking warden decided to move off from the location and alert a duty executive about the incident.
DPP Lee said: “Before Viknes left, the accused opened his wallet, took a $10 note out and corruptly offered the gratification to Viknes, who rejected the money.
“The accused then placed the $10 on the top of the speedometer of Viknes’ motorcycle. Viknes called his superior for advice, who told Viknes to call the police.”
Mr Vikneswaran alerted the authorities and Guo was charged in court later that year.
Offenders convicted of graft can be jailed for up to five years and fined up to $100,000.

 

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Jail for maid abuser who tried to cover up tracks by reformatting memory cards of home CCTV cameras​

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Oct 11, 2024

SINGAPORE - A housewife repeatedly tormented her Indonesian domestic helper in 2020 by acts such as kicking the woman, slapping her face until she staggered backwards and yanking her hair.
Tan Siew Mei, 42, also verbally abused Ms Wahyati, 43, with vulgar language and on one occasion, told the latter: “You are rubbish. You are not human. Remember, you are always rubbish.”
Unable to tolerate any more abuse, Ms Wahyati, who goes by only one name, shouted for help from the service yard at Tan’s condominium unit in Bedok Reservoir View. A neighbour who heard her cries, alerted the police.
When officers arrived at the unit, one of them removed a memory card from a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera in the kitchen.
Tan then tried to cover up her tracks by remotely reformatting the memory cards of five remaining cameras in the unit.
On Oct 11, the Malaysian, who is a Singapore permanent resident, was sentenced to six months and three weeks’ jail and a fine of $4,000.
She had pleaded guilty to three counts of assault, as well as one count each of harassment and obstructing the course of justice. Seventeen other charges were considered during sentencing.

Court documents did not disclose when Ms Wahyati started working for Tan. However, Tan first abused Ms Wahyati some time during Chinese New Year in early 2020.
Ms Wahyati told investigators that Tan had used both her hands to push her in the chest, causing the maid to fall.
When Ms Wahyati stood up, Tan pushed her body against a door. After this incident, Tan abused the maid multiple times in May and June 2020.

For instance, at around 1pm on June 12 that year, Ms Wahyati tried to speak to Tan about her duties while the latter was blow-drying her hair.
The helper then went to the kitchen to prepare milk for Tan’s daughter.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Sunil Nair said: “Unknown to the victim, the accused was angry with her for trying to talk to her while she was blow-drying her hair.
“(Tan) went to the kitchen and abruptly yanked the victim’s ponytail from behind with force... The accused also started shouting at the victim.”
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Tan also tried slapping the victim’s face using her left hand. Ms Wahyati blocked it with her right arm and the slap landed on it instead.
Tan then scolded the maid and said: “You see what will happen later.”
Still unhappy with the maid the next day, Tan rained blows on Ms Wahyati until the maid shouted: “Enough!”
Instead of stopping, Tan kicked the maid who exclaimed that she wanted to go home.
Tan responded by yelling: ““You are rubbish. You are not human. Remember you are always rubbish... I want to keep you, I want to wash you, I want to scrub you, I want to kick you and I want to punch you.”
Tan continued attacking the maid and even used an umbrella to strike her thrice.
Around 2.30am on June 15, 2020, Ms Wahyati was washing clothes in a bathroom when Tan decided to check on her.
Tan flew into a rage as she felt that “dirty shower water” could have entered some pails containing fabric. She reprimanded Ms Wahyati and slapped her face before hitting her in the back.
Later that morning, Tan became angry when the maid did not leave the kitchen to serve breakfast.
Shortly before 9am, Ms Wahyati was washing some dishes when Tan hit her face and kicked her thigh.
A CCTV camera inside the fla recorded Ms Wahyati’s ordeal on all three days.
Distressed, Ms Wahyati shouted for help from the service yard on the same day and two police officers later arrived at the unit at around 9.30am.
DPP Nair said: “Hearing that somebody had arrived, the accused pushed the victim into her bedroom in the service yard and went inside with her.”
The two officers then entered the unit and Tan lied to them, claiming that the injuries on Ms Wahyati were self-inflicted.
Tan initally refused to allow one of the officers to speak to the victim alone. Tan finally relented when pressed and reformatted the memory cards.
Ms Wahyati was later taken to Changi General Hospital where she was found to have multiple bruises.
On Oct 11, defence lawyer James Ow Yong told the court that Tan had been diagnosed with adjustment disorder but this condition did not contribute to her offences.
He also said that Tan had made a voluntary compensation of $5,000 to Ms Wahyati.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Is 9 weeks' jail adequate?
A lot of ah nehs will gladly do 9 weeks for $25,000.

9 weeks’ jail for man who failed to return $25k wrongly deposited into his bank account​

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Oct 14, 2024

SINGAPORE - A man has been sentenced to nine weeks’ jail after he failed to return $25,000 mistakenly transferred to his bank account, despite knowing the money did not belong to him.
He said he used the money to pay off his debts and remitted some of it to his family in India.
On Oct 14, Periyasamy Mathiyazhagan, a 47-year-old Indian national, pleaded guilty to misappropriating the money.
He worked for a plumbing and engineering firm from 2021 to 2022.
His legal woes started on April 6, 2023, when an administrator at the firm transferred the $25,000 to his bank account, which she had thought was the company’s account.
Court documents referred to her as the complainant in the case.
State Prosecuting Officer (SPO) Lim Yeow Leong told the court the woman had taken a personal loan from the company and wanted to pay it off.

“After making the erroneous transfer, the complainant was informed by (a director at the firm) on the same day that the account did not belong to the company, and the company did not receive the cash,” the SPO said.
The woman then told Periyasamy’s bank about the erroneous transfer and sought its help to recover the money.
On April 10, 2023, the bank sent a letter addressed to him, stating that the woman had made a request for the cash to be returned.

But the letter was sent to the company instead as it was identified as Periyasamy’s last known address in the bank’s records.
On May 9 that year, it informed her by another letter that her request for the cash to be returned was unsuccessful.
She then lodged a police report on May 23.
Investigations revealed that Periyasamy discovered earlier that month that the money had been deposited into his bank account.
The SPO said that the offender was not expecting to receive such a large sum of cash and knew that it did not belong to him.
Despite this, he transferred the $25,000 to another bank account over four separate transactions on May 11 and 12.
Some time at the end of the month, administrative staff at the company noticed that the bank’s letter addressed to Periyasamy had been sent to the firm instead.
The firm’s director called him to the firm, handed him the letter, and asked him to return the $25,000.
Periyasamy replied that he had used up the amount to pay off his debts.
In a police interview in November 2023, he told officers that he had also remitted a portion of the money to his family in India.
He requested for more time to return the cash to the woman and proposed a monthly repayment of $1,500.
To date, the money has not been recovered, and he has made no restitution.

 

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Man tried to rape drunk woman after she was allegedly raped by his friend under Tuas Viaduct​

The victim was led to a field under the Tuas Viaduct. PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS

Selina Lum
Senior Law Correspondent

Oct 18, 2024

SINGAPORE – Two foreign workers who were taking the last train back to their dormitory encountered a heavily intoxicated woman during their journey, and decided to bring her along with them after the train stopped at Tuas West Road station.
One man, Alam Foysal, 38, guided the woman out of the train, then led her from the station to a grass field under the Tuas Viaduct, where he allegedly raped her.
The other man, Ahmed Rayhan, 32, followed closely behind Foysal and the victim. He tried to rape the victim, but gave up after a few tries.
The 32-year-old victim was eventually found by a passer-by on his way to work the next morning.
Foysal and Rayhan, who are Bangladeshi nationals, were arrested on the same day, after the police established their identities from surveillance camera footage.
On Oct 18, Rayhan was sentenced to nine years’ jail and nine strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted rape.
Two other charges related to the same victim, one for sexual assault by penetration and one for outrage of modesty, were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Foysal’s case is still pending in court.
The incident took place between 12.30 am and 2.20 am on March 8, 2022.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Michelle Tay told the High Court that both men worked as welders on the same construction-related project, and stayed in the same dormitory.

On the evening of March 7, 2022, the two men met a mutual friend for drinks.
It was just past midnight when Foysal and Rayhan boarded a train at Chinese Garden MRT station to return to their dormitory.
During the journey, they noticed the victim who was in the train carriage next to theirs.
She was heavily intoxicated and behaving erratically – walking up and down the aisle, sitting on the floor and then standing up.
The two men approached her and tried to strike up a conversation, but she was incoherent and did not respond to their questions.

When the train arrived at Tuas West Road station at about 12.30am, they decided to take her with them.
Foysal supported the victim and guided her out of the train carriage. He then led her down the escalator to the gantry, as Rayhan followed closely behind them.
At the gantry, the victim struggled to tap out, attracting the attention of the staff.
Foysal told the staff that he and Rahyan had met the victim in the train, that she lives nearby and that they were taking her home.
After the woman exited the gantry, Foysal held her wrist and led her to a grass field in the vicinity of the station, underneath Tuas Viaduct.
He then stopped at a dark area and set the victim down on the ground, next to a large concrete structural pillar.
The prosecutor said Rayhan then realised that Foysal intended to have sex with the victim there.
While Foysal was unzipping his trousers, Rayhan molested and sexually violated the woman.
The prosecutor said that after witnessing Foysal rape the victim, Rayhan decided to do the same. But he was unable to do so and gave up after trying for some time.
Following Rayhan’s failed attempt, Foysal raped the woman a second time, said the prosecutor.
The two men subsequently took a taxi back to their dormitory.
At about 7.10am, a Chinese national cycling past the field spotted the victim curled up on the ground, partially undressed and bleeding from the head. He called the police.

Rayhan was arrested at 6.20pm, while Foysal was arrested at 7.05pm, on that same day.
The prosecutor said Foysal’s semen was found on multiple swabs taken from the victim’s body.
Foysal’s DNA was found on swabs taken from the victim’s underwear, while the victim’s DNA was found on the interior of Rayhan’s jeans.
Rayhan was initially charged with rape. This was amended to attempted rape after the charges against him were finalised on Aug 16, 2023, the court was told.
The prosecutor sought eight to 10 years’ jail and six strokes of the cane, saying that Rayhan knew the victim did not have the capacity to consent to sexual acts and took advantage of her vulnerable state.
Rayhan’s lawyer, Mr Mahadevan Lukshumayeh, said his client “made the biggest mistake of his life” when he succumbed to temptation after seeing what was happening before his eyes.

 

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High Court dismisses claim of ex-flight steward who sued SIA for over $1m after fall on plane​

Mr Durairaj Santiran had claimed that the fall caused injuries to his spine, leaving him medically unfit to continue working as a flight steward. PHOTO: ST FILE

Nadine Chua

Oct 18, 2024

SINGAPORE – A former flight steward who sued Singapore Airlines for over $1 million, after he claimed to have slipped on a grease patch on board a plane, has had his claim dismissed by the High Court.
Mr Durairaj Santiran, 35, claimed that the fall caused injuries to his spine, leaving him medically unfit to continue working as a flight steward.
The Malaysian also claimed his former employer was negligent for allowing the workplace to be unsafe.
But in a judgement on Oct 18, Justice Vinodh Coomaraswamy said he found that there was, in fact, no slippery area on the floor of the SIA aircraft.
The judge also said he did not accept Mr Durairaj’s claim that SIA had breached the duty of care that it owed to him.
Mr Durairaj claimed he had slipped and fell on a “patch of grease” on the floor of the economy-class galley during a flight from San Francisco to Singapore on Sept 6, 2019.
He said that he still suffers pain in his back and neck while sitting, standing, walking or running, and that he requires frequent breaks and painkillers to cope with the pain.

Mr Durairaj, who was employed by SIA from April 2016 to April 2021 on a salary of $6,058 a month, now works as a customer care analyst in Malaysia, where he earns RM4,200 (S$1,280) a month.
Over half of his total claim for damages was almost $700,000 for the loss of future earnings.
In dismissing the claim, the judge said he found that no foreign substance was present on the surface of the gallery floor that made it slippery.

A reason for this finding was that Mr Durairaj was not a credible witness.
Justice Vinodh said there were several material, self-serving and unexplained variances between what Mr Durairaj said in his statement of claim and the evidence that he gave at the trial.
In his statement of claim, Mr Durairaj said he immediately told the leading stewardess, Ms Christina Chia, about a “grease patch” on the floor of the gallery upon discovering it.
He said he attempted to clean it only after Ms Chia instructed him to do so.
But at the trial, he gave a different account. He said he had tried to clean the grease patch using paper hand towels and disinfectant on his own initiative while the plane was still taxiing for takeoff – before reporting the issue to Ms Chia.
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In his statement of claim, Mr Durairaj also said that despite his best efforts, he could not remove the grease using disinfectant cleaning spray and a paper hand towel.
However, during cross-examination at the trial, Mr Durairaj said he removed the greasy patch, although the surface of the floor was still slippery.
He then told the court a new version of events, saying the slippery area appeared shiny to him but was invisible to everyone else.
However, the judge noted that the other crew members gave evidence that they did not see any grease or other foreign substance on the galley floor at any time during the flight.
He also found that SIA did not breach its duty of care to Mr Durairaj, as there were measures taken to minimise the risk of anyone slipping and falling on board its aircraft.
This included an intensive training programme to teach all new cabin crew members how to identify potential risks of inflight work accidents and how to prevent them.
In his judgment, Justice Vinodh noted that this was not the first time Mr Durairaj suffered a workplace injury during his employment as a flight steward with SIA.
Besides the injury related to the current claim, Mr Durairaj suffered six other workplace injuries between April 2017 and April 2019.
In April 2017, he injured his back while helping a passenger close an overhead luggage compartment. He filed a claim for compensation and was awarded over $26,000.
In January 2018, he slipped and fell from a staircase while exiting the crew bunk and required surgery. SIA paid for his surgery and he was awarded over $91,000 after filing a compensation claim.
He also bruised the tip of his finger while opening a compartment door and broke his left fingernail while handling a meal cart, which were minor injuries that were resolved without treatment or claim.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

12 days’ jail for man who tried to give NEA officer $10 bribe​

Myanmar national Aung Moe Hlaing was sentenced to 12 days’ jail on Oct 22 after he pleaded guilty to one charge under the Prevention of Corruption Act. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

Nadine Chua

Oct 22, 2024

SINGAPORE - A 33-year-old man who was caught littering and wanted to be let off the hook tried to bribe a National Environment Agency enforcement officer by giving her $10.
She rejected it and told him: “In Singapore, you cannot do this. Keep your money.”
Aung Moe Hlaing, a Myanmar national, was sentenced to 12 days’ jail on Oct 22 after he pleaded guilty to one charge under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Benjamin Low said two enforcement officers from Certis Cisco Auxiliary Police, who were attached to NEA, were conducting enforcement patrols on March 25 at Heartland Mall in Kovan to detect environment-related offences such as littering or spitting.
At around 9.40am, they saw Aung Moe Hlaing throwing a cigarette butt into the drain and informed him that he had committed an offence of littering.
When the officers asked if he could speak English, Aung Moe Hlaing replied that he was from Myanmar and spoke only a “little bit” of English.
The officers asked him for identification, but he asked them to give him a chance. One of the officers said they could not do so and repeated the request for his particulars.

She told him that if he did not have any identification on him, she would have to call the police to “come down and verify (his) particulars”.
When the officers could not get his particulars, Aung Moe Hlaing was told to wait for the police to verify his identity.
Upon hearing this, he took out a $10 note from his mobile phone cover and corruptly offered it to one of the officers so that she would not take any enforcement action against him and let him go, said DPP Low.
In footage from the officer’s body-worn camera, Aung Moe Hlaing can be seen putting his hands together and gesturing as he asked the officers for another chance.
Seeking two to three weeks’ jail, DPP Low said the manner in which the corruption offence was committed was brazen.
He added: “It is axiomatic that corruption offences are, and should continue to be, viewed with the greatest possible opprobrium. A deterrent sentence is thus called for in the present case.”
Arguing for a jail term of less than a week, defence lawyer Tania Chin of TSMP Law Corporation said her client has a poor command of English and was afraid when he heard the word “police” as he did not understand why they needed to be called to the scene.
“To Aung, who was born and raised in Myanmar, the police brought to mind images of torture and brutality, which would explain the fear and desperation he felt at the material time, which drove him to impulsively offer the $10 so that no enforcement action would be taken against him by the police,” said Ms Chin.
Offenders convicted of graft can be jailed for up to five years and fined up to $100,000.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Jail for 2 men who illegally obtained data from suspect in malicious cyber activities​

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Oct 24, 2024

SINGAPORE – A man engaged the services of an alleged accomplice to illegally obtain the personal information of others, as he wanted to use such data in an unlawful online gambling operation.
Malaysian Kong Chien Hoi, 39, then received from Chinese national Sun Jiao a file that contained the personal information of 9,369 unknown people.
Sun, 42, was allegedly linked to a global syndicate that conducted malicious cyber activities.
Kong’s Malaysian accomplice, Seow Gim Shen, 42, also received the file. Seow later asked Sun if he had the personal data of people in Vietnam.
The court heard that Sun then sent the two Malaysians another file with the personal data of 6,800 unknown people.
Deputy public prosecutors Hon Yi, Cheah Wenjie and Shaun Lim stated in court documents: “Sun Jiao informed investigators that the personal information data was obtained through... other gambling websites to obtain their list of users and their personal information.”
On Oct 24, Kong and Seow were each sentenced to 14 weeks’ jail.

Each man had pleaded guilty to one count of being part of a conspiracy to illegally obtain other people’s personal information.
The DPPs added: “Both Kong and Seow had reason to believe that the... personal information was obtained without the consent of the unknown persons, and they in fact believed that Sun Jiao could have stolen the personal information data.”
Meanwhile, Sun was one of six men who were charged in court in September, and their cases are still pending.

The Straits Times reported that Sun was allegedly part of the group that had planned to target websites and exploit their vulnerabilities.
The prosecutors said that some time in 2019, Seow befriended a Chinese national known only as Andy while visiting a casino in Cambodia.
Andy later introduced Seow to Sun, saying the latter dealt in databases containing other people’s personal information.
Seow then introduced Sun to Kong, who was then assisting in the operation of an online gambling service that was accessible in multiple countries, including Singapore.
But Seow’s lawyer, Mr Sunil Sudheesan, told the court that Kong was actually working for a client who operated the online gambling service and was not directly assisting the website.
On or before Aug 24, 2023, Seow created a “Malaysian data” group chat on WhatsApp, which also included Kong and Sun.

According to court documents, the group chat was formed for Sun to sell strangers’ personal information that had been stolen from various websites.
“Sun Jiao understood that Kong and Seow were interested buyers for such illegally obtained personal information,” said the DPPs.
Kong was in Malaysia on July 24 when he spoke on the phone with Sun, asking to buy personal information of Thai nationals.
Sun replied that he had the personal information of over a million Thai nationals, and Kong then asked him for a sample.
The prosecutors said that later that day, Sun used WhatsApp to send Kong and Seow a file with the data – including the names and phone numbers – of 9,369 people.
Seow did not open the file. However, Kong forwarded it to a female associate, known only as Nida, and asked her to cold-call the numbers found inside.
On Aug 17, she sent Kong a detailed report, stating that her team had called 2,000 of the numbers, and sent out SMSes to all 9,369. Details about the messages were not disclosed in court documents.
Of the numbers called, 34 per cent were reachable.
As for the numbers in what the DPPs described as an “SMS blast”, 32 per cent were successfully delivered.
On Sept 7, Seow asked Sun if he had the personal information of people in Vietnam and Sun sent the two Malaysians another file.
But two days later, officers from the Criminal Investigation Department conducted simultaneous raids at multiple locations islandwide and six people, including Sun, were arrested.
Officers seized from him five laptops, six mobile phones, $24,000 in cash and cryptocurrency worth about US$850,000 (S$1.1 million).
The “Malaysian data” group chat was uncovered during investigations.
On Sept 21, Kong and Seow came to Singapore for the F1 Singapore Grand Prix and were arrested two days later as they were about to leave the country.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

14 years’ jail for Thai woman in $32m luxury goods scam​

Pansuk Siriwipa and her Singaporean husband, Pi Jiapeng, made headlines in 2022 as the couple involved in a $32 million luxury goods scam. PHOTO: ST FILE

Nadine Chua

Oct 29, 2024

SINGAPORE – A Thai woman who masterminded a scheme to cheat almost 200 victims in a luxury goods scam was sentenced to 14 years’ jail on Oct 29.
Pansuk Siriwipa, 30, who joined court proceedings via video link, looked down and nodded when the judge read out the sentence.
On Oct 21, Pansuk pleaded guilty to 30 charges, including for cheating, fraudulent trading and money laundering.
She had collected payments for luxury bags and watches amounting to more than $25 million, despite knowing these orders could not be fulfilled.
She faced a total of 180 charges, with the remaining 150 charges taken into consideration during sentencing.
Pansuk and her Singaporean husband, Pi Jiapeng, 29, made headlines in 2022 as the couple involved in the $32 million luxury goods scam.
Between May and August that year, 187 police reports were filed against their companies, Tradenation and Tradeluxury, for not fulfilling orders even though payments had been made in full.

In sentencing, District Judge Christopher Goh said he found the sentence appropriate and “not crushing”, as it accurately reflects Pansuk’s criminality in this whole scheme.
He said: “There is no escaping the fact that the amount of money involved is huge, amounting to almost $26 million.
“Although there is some degree of overlap between the fraudulent trading charges and the cheating charges... I have only considered the amount in the fraudulent trading charges.”

He noted that even though Pansuk’s and Pi’s companies were operating at a loss, they racked up significant expenditures funded by customer payments – including a house worth more than $2.3 million in Bangkok, which she purchased in her mother’s name.
Pi faces nine charges. His case is pending.
Pansuk and Pi married in September 2020. In May 2021, they started Tradenation to sell luxury watches.
Less than a year later, Pansuk started Tradeluxury to sell luxury bags.
Even when the companies faced financial issues, she continued accepting orders and payments from customers.

Instead of fulfilling orders, Pansuk used the money for personal expenses, such as a $58,000 private jet flight with Pi and their friends, and bought a Chevrolet Corvette registered in Pi’s name.
Pi already owned three other cars then – a Toyota Alphard, a McLaren Coupe and a Porsche Macan.
Pansuk’s transfer of more than $176,000 from her bank account to a car retailer as down payment for the Chevrolet Corvette was traced to money from Tradenation customers and was related to one of her money laundering charges.
Pansuk also used $120,000 of customers’ funds to renovate Tradenation’s retail store in Tanjong Pagar.
When the businesses began, Pansuk sourced luxury goods from Thailand and sold them at prices around 10 per cent to 20 per cent lower than other resellers while still maintaining profits.
But by late 2021 and early 2022, she had trouble sourcing the goods overseas. Both companies began operating at significant losses as they were sourcing their goods locally at a higher price.
Deputy Public Prosecutor David Koh said that by the end of March 2022, the companies had cumulative liabilities of more than $9.3 million in unfulfilled orders, while their assets were worth only around $350,000.
Despite this, Pansuk continued accepting orders for luxury goods.
From March to June 2022, the total amount of payments collected was almost $24.8 million for Tradenation and nearly $947,000 for Tradeluxury, for orders which were eventually unfulfilled.

DPP Koh said the two companies had become a Ponzi scheme, ensnaring more victims in hopes of making payments or deliveries to existing customers.
On one occasion in May 2022, a customer consigned a Rolex to Tradenation to sell for $105,000.
In a consignment arrangement, owners hand over their items for sale, and the shop takes a cut of the proceeds. If no transaction takes place within a stipulated time, the products are returned to the owner.
But Pansuk sold the Rolex for $72,000 and gave some of the money to Pi to pay off his credit card bills and car loans.
DPP Koh sought a jail term of between 14 and 15 years, arguing that despite the companies’ dire financial situation, Pansuk continued to draw a monthly salary of $10,000 and paid Pi a salary ranging from $40,000 to $52,000 monthly.
Her lawyers, Mr Johannes Hadi and Ms Sophia Ng, argued for a jail term ranging from 12 years and eight months to 13 years and seven months.
They said their client is remorseful, and plans to reunite with her family and care for her elderly grandmother.
During investigations, Pansuk and Pi fled from Singapore to Malaysia in a lorry’s container compartment on July 4, 2022.
The two Malaysians who helped them escape were each sentenced to a year’s jail in September 2022.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Shell oil heist: 2 months’ jail for then surveyor who accepted $7.9k in bribes​

Mauritian national Naushad Carrim Tengur’s offence was linked to a $128 million oil heist from Shell Eastern Petroleum’s Pulau Bukom site. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Nov 01, 2024

SINGAPORE – A surveyor accepted around US$6,000 (S$7,900) in bribes from a colleague in exchange for turning a blind eye to unauthorised loadings of Shell’s gas oil onto marine vessels.
Mauritian national Naushad Carrim Tengur’s offence was linked to a $128m oil heist from Shell Eastern Petroleum’s Pulau Bukom site.
On Nov 1, the 48-year-old Singapore permanent resident was sentenced to two months’ jail and ordered to pay a penalty of more than $4,000.
District Judge Chee Min Ping convicted him of a graft charge after a trial in October.
At the time of the offence, Naushad was working for a company called Inspectorate (Singapore) that surveyed marine vessels for the volume of cargo loaded into their tanks.
In 2022, he was one of 12 people who were charged in court with corruption-related offences in connection to a conspiracy to misappropriate oil from Shell’s Pulau Bukom site.
The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau said in a statement on April 14 that year: “Between 2014 and 2017, the 12 individuals allegedly accepted bribes totalling at least US$213,000.

“These bribes were either given to them directly, or through intermediaries, by three former employees of Shell, namely Juandi Pungot, Muzaffar Ali Khan Muhamad Akram and Richard Goh Chee Keong.”
Juandi, then 45, admitted in February 2022 to misappropriating 203,403 tonnes of gas oil worth $128 million. He was given 29 years’ jail in March 2022.
Muzaffar, then 42, was sentenced to 26½ years’ jail in August 2024. The case involving Goh, 55, is pending.

For Naushad’s case, the court heard that he had accepted the US$6,000 over two incidents between 2016 and 2017 from Muhammad Khairul Asri Mohamed Hanafiah, who was also a surveyor with Inspectorate at the time.
Deputy public prosecutors Norman Yew and Jeremy Bin stated in court documents that Khairul, 40, pleaded guilty in May 2022 before he was sentenced to four months’ jail and ordered to pay a penalty of more than $8,000.
The DPPs added that the surveyors’ duties included inspecting the tanks on marine vessels docked at Shell’s site at Pulau Bukom.
They had to accurately report the volume of gas oil in the vessels’ tanks before and after Shell loaded the fuel into them – the volume of which was determined by Shell’s contracts with its customers.
The DPPs told the court: “The purpose of the inspections and reporting was to ensure that there was no unauthorised loading of excess gas oil from Shell to these vessels.”

In 2016 and 2017, Juandi and Muzaffar worked together to dishonestly misappropriate Shell’s gas oil and load them into various vessels in exchange for money without Shell’s authorisation.
To conceal such offences, they bribed surveyors to turn a blind eye to the unauthorised loadings.
The DPPs said that for the current case, the incidents involved Khairul’s inspection of a vessel called Great Ocean in January 2016 and another vessel called Petrolimex 08 in January 2017.
During the trial, Khairul testified that towards the end of 2015, Juandi had approached him to join a scheme “whereby extra gas are loaded into a vessel”.
In exchange, Khairul would be given cash to “keep a blind eye for the extra loading of gas oil”.
The DPPs said that after receiving the money, he split the amount equally with Naushad and another colleague, A. Duraisamy, then 60, who was sentenced to 10 months’ jail and a fine of nearly $43,000 in August 2022.
Duraisamy, Juandi and Muzaffar had also testified during the trial. The trio told the court that Naushad, Duraisamy and Khairul were part of the corrupt arrangement.
During Naushad’s trial, the DPPs said it was inconceivable that the four main witnesses in the case had lied to frame Naushad, who claimed that he had never received the US$6,000.
Naushad, who was not represented by a lawyer, had also claimed that he was unaware of any corrupt arrangements or unauthorised loadings.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Jail for woman who allowed her firm’s bank account to receive scam benefits totalling over $1m​

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Nov 05, 2024


SINGAPORE - A company’s sole director got involved in a scheme with a money laundering syndicate and the firm’s bank account later received the benefits of an impersonation scam totalling US$952,000 (over S$1.27 million).
Chinese national Chen Binjue, 41, who was then heading public relations firm Dionysuss Lifestyle, was sentenced to two years and four months’ jail on Nov 5.
The Singapore permanent resident had pleaded guilty to one count dealing with the benefits of criminal conduct.
Eight other charges for offences including forgery were considered during sentencing.
The prosecution said that almost all the money, save for around $3,000, has been returned to the victim – a firm based in the United Kingdom (UK).
Chen incorporated Dionysuss Lifestyle in 2016, but a search with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority on Nov 5 revealed that she is no longer a director at the company.
In 2019, she got involved in a scheme with a money laundering syndicate made up of unknown people from China.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Kathy Chu told the court: “She agreed to allow Dionysuss’ (bank account) in Singapore to be used to receive the syndicate’s monies.
“She had reasonable grounds to believe the syndicate was engaged in criminal conduct and that its monies were benefits of (crime).”
On June 25, 2019, a director at a firm called International Data Corporation UK (IDC UK) fell victim to a phone impersonation scam when a person pretending to be his superior contacted him.

The director was told to make arrangements for a transaction as part of IDC UK’s “business acquisition” and that a lawyer would be in touch with him.
A person who pretended to be a lawyer then contacted the director who was asked to arrange for a transaction of US$952,000 to Dionysuss Lifestyle’s Maybank account.
The director then gave instructions for the transaction to take place and the money was deposited into the account the next day.
On June 27, 2019, $296,639 was transferred from it to a Hong Kong company called New Ginwa.
Maybank Singapore was later alerted of the ill-gotten gains in Dionysuss Lifestyle’s bank account.
The bank then froze the account and asked for the $296,639 payment to be recalled.

The Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) seized the money in Dionysuss Lifestyle’s Maybank account on June 28, 2019.
Later that day, Chen realised that she could not perform transactions on the account and called Maybank’s contact centre.
She was told that the bank needed supporting documents relating to several transactions including the ones involving the $296,639 and the more than $1.27 million.
Chen then forged multiple invoices over non-existent transactions that purportedly involved the money and e-mailed them to Maybank.
On July 12, 2019, the director at IDC UK lodged a police report with the Singapore authorities about the phone scam.
Six days later, more than $290,000 was successfully recalled and credited back to Dionysuss Lifestyle’s Maybank account.
Separately, Chen made plans to obtain the release of the funds from the account.
In late 2019, she met up with one Wilson Ho and offered him $2,000 per month in exchange for becoming a director at Dionysuss Lifestyle.
He accepted the offer, and she promised him a cut of the money if it was released.
Chen also appointed a lawyer whose firm wrote to CAD, stating that it was acting for Mr Ho and asked for the funds in the Maybank account to be released.
Upon further correspondence, Chen provided two of the earlier forged invoices to CAD on or around April 22, 2020.
On Aug 12 that year, CAD issued an order for Maybank to return the funds in Dionysuss Lifestyle’s account to IDC UK.
More than $1.27 million was returned to IDC UK two days later.
Chen’s bail was set at $40,000 on Nov 5, and she is expected to begin serving her sentence on Nov 12.