Updated: 07/29/2013 14:23 | By Channel NewsAsia
Pub owner jailed 12 months for vice-related offences
SINGAPORE: A pub owner was on Monday jailed 12 months by a district court for a string of vice-related offences that included procuring prostitutes and knowingly living off part of their earnings.
53-year-old Muralidharan Pillai committed the offences in 2011.
A social worker blew the whistle on him after she received a call informing her that some Filipina women were being forced to work as social escorts or prostitutes at the pub located in the Jalan Besar area, and had indicated they needed help.
According to court documents, Muralidharan knowingly procured the women through agents to work as prostitutes while they were under his employment.
He then arranged for them to get either special passes, or work permits which allowed them to work as performing artistes at his pub.
Once they started work there, he would take a cut of their earnings which came either from selling drinks or from sex with their clients.
Two of the women, for example, gave him S$9,000 and S$13,000 respectively from their prostitution earnings.
Muralidharan also pleaded guilty to other charges that related to leasing a premise in Opal Crescent where he harboured prostitutes and collected daily rent from them, receiving women at the airport for the purpose of prostitution and keeping a place of assignation where communication was established between the women and their customers to facilitate the provision of sexual services to them.
In mitigation, Muralidharan's lawyer said his client was a first-time offender who had previously been commended for his work in the Military Security Department of the Ministry of Defence.
In 2001, he had been given a letter of commendation from Tanglin Police Station for handing over an illegal immigrant who had tried to pass off as a Singaporean.
Muralidharan is currently facing bankruptcy proceedings.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Teo Lu Jia however, pressed the court for a deterrent sentence. - CNA/xq
