May 21, 2010
Man fined for forgery
By Elena Chong, Court Correspondent
A MAN who forged an 'Invitation to Solemnise a Marriage'' application form was fined $8,000 on Friday. Edmund Wu Soon Meng, 33, an engineer, had admitted to forging the signature of a licensed solemniser with intent to support that his marriage would be solemnised in September 2008.
A district court heard that he was married when he befriended Chinese national Bian Yuan in 2004. After some time, he and Ms Bian moved in together. A few years later, when her parents came to know of their relationship, they began to pester them to get married. Wu told her parents that his divorce was finalised, and arranged for their wedding banquet to be held in China in October 2008.
Wu then decided to get a document from the Registry of Marriages to show Ms Bian's parents as proof that they were getting married in Singapore. He forged the 'Invitation to Solemnise a Marriage'' form after he and Ms Bian had popped by the ROM to submit an application for marriage form. The court heard that Wu and Ms Bian had a wedding banquet in China but have not registered their wedding. His wife obtained the divorce last December. He could have been jailed for up to four years and/or fined.
