Updated: 11/08/2013 16:02 | By Channel NewsAsia
RWS senior executive fined for offences under Casino Control Act
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SINGAPORE: A Resorts World Sentosa senior executive has been fined S$100,000 for breaching the Casino Control Act on three counts.
44-year-old Lim Tze Chean on Friday admitted to one count of providing misleading information to regulators and two counts of destroying the company's log entries.
Six other related charges were taken into consideration for sentencing purposes.
At the time of the offences, Lim was a vice-president of VIP services at the gaming services department of RWS.
He is currently director of the projects department at RWS.
Between May and July 2011, Lim gave misleading information to the authorities during investigations.
He also destroyed log entries that showed RWS had issued complimentary Universal Studios Singapore tickets to patrons who renewed their annual levies.
Lim is one of three individuals charged in September last year for doing so.
The other two are Sim Bee Ling, the then-assistant manager of VIP services, and Lee Poh Yee, then-senior vice-president of gaming services.
The three were charged after the integrated resort was fined S$600,000 for breaching social safeguards against problem gambling by partially reimbursing the annual entry levy paid by some 3,400 local casino patrons.
Singapore citizens and permanent residents are required to either pay an annual entry levy of S$2,000 or a daily entry levy of S$100 per 24-hour entry to the casinos.
Under the law, casino operators cannot refund or reimburse patrons for the entry levy directly or indirectly.
In sentencing, District Judge Soh Tze Bian said the custody threshold has not been crossed.
A key reason for this is because Lim did not personally gain from his offences.
The judge noted that the offences were committed "on RWS' instructions" without Lim actually knowing that his employer "did not check or seek approval" from authorities.
When Lim found out later, he tried to cover up by lying to the authorities.
Judge Soh said Lim "did what he thought was best for RWS as his employer".
Also, the judge said mandatory jail term is not required for some of Lim's offences.
He added that a deterrent sentence "need not always take the form of a custodial term as it may take the form of a fine if it is high enough to have a deterrent effect on the offender".
The maximum penalty for providing misleading information is a S$50,000 fine and a two-year jail term.
For destroying a log entry, the maximum punishment is a fine of S$100,000 and two years in jail. - CNA/xq
