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Sep 9, 2009
Ex-director jailed <!--10 min-->
<!-- headline one : start --> <!-- headline one : end --> <!-- Author --> <!-- show image if available --> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr></tr> <tr> </tr> <tr> </tr> <tr><td colspan="2" class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold">By Khushwant Singh </td></tr> <tr valign="bottom"> <td width="330">
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Ong was jailed for five years and eight months for cheating a now-defunct bank. -- PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
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A RETIREE was jailed for five years and eight months for his role in cheating a bank of more than $14 million over a six-year period. Ong Eng Loong, 63, then a director of timber company Nam Keong Industrades, committed 124 offences of conspiracy to cheat and failing in his duties as a director under the Companies Act. He was jailed on Tuesday after an eight-day trial. A district court heard that Ong conspired with accomplice Oei Khie, 65, to cheat the now-defunct Industrial and Commercial Bank (ICB) between 1997 and 2002. Ong asked Oei to provide blank invoices of the latter's two companies - Poh Lian Shipping and Long Luen Trading - to create sham transactions with his own company.
This was to enable Ong to get his bank to pay Oei's companies for the fake purchases. Oei then returned the money to Ong, after pocketing commissions amounting to $33,000. Oei himself made a police report about the scam and was jailed for 2 1/2 years in 2004. During the trial, lawyer Loo Choon Hiaw said that Ong founded Nam Keong in the 1980s. The firm employed 50 employees including Ong's siblings and sons, generating revenue of $40 million in 2000. But two years later, market conditions caused it to go belly up and the family was declared bankrupt. Two properties in Bukit Timah were repossessed by banks and sold. Mr Loo told the court that all the bank loans had been fully repaid. Ong could have been jailed for up to seven years for each cheating offence.
Sep 9, 2009
Ex-director jailed <!--10 min-->
<!-- headline one : start --> <!-- headline one : end --> <!-- Author --> <!-- show image if available --> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr></tr> <tr> </tr> <tr> </tr> <tr><td colspan="2" class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold">By Khushwant Singh </td></tr> <tr valign="bottom"> <td width="330">
</td> <td width="10">
Ong was jailed for five years and eight months for cheating a now-defunct bank. -- PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
</td></tr> </tbody></table>
A RETIREE was jailed for five years and eight months for his role in cheating a bank of more than $14 million over a six-year period. Ong Eng Loong, 63, then a director of timber company Nam Keong Industrades, committed 124 offences of conspiracy to cheat and failing in his duties as a director under the Companies Act. He was jailed on Tuesday after an eight-day trial. A district court heard that Ong conspired with accomplice Oei Khie, 65, to cheat the now-defunct Industrial and Commercial Bank (ICB) between 1997 and 2002. Ong asked Oei to provide blank invoices of the latter's two companies - Poh Lian Shipping and Long Luen Trading - to create sham transactions with his own company.
This was to enable Ong to get his bank to pay Oei's companies for the fake purchases. Oei then returned the money to Ong, after pocketing commissions amounting to $33,000. Oei himself made a police report about the scam and was jailed for 2 1/2 years in 2004. During the trial, lawyer Loo Choon Hiaw said that Ong founded Nam Keong in the 1980s. The firm employed 50 employees including Ong's siblings and sons, generating revenue of $40 million in 2000. But two years later, market conditions caused it to go belly up and the family was declared bankrupt. Two properties in Bukit Timah were repossessed by banks and sold. Mr Loo told the court that all the bank loans had been fully repaid. Ong could have been jailed for up to seven years for each cheating offence.
