Ex-table tennis chief acquitted of misappropriating funds to pay coach

[wendychan]

WTF?
Ex-table tennis chief acquitted of misappropriating funds to pay coach

By Ian Poh
Former table tennis chief Choo Wee Khiang was on Friday cleared of misappropriating association funds to pay an assistant coach.

District Judge Lim Tse Haw said that Choo, 58, had not dishonestly misappropriated $8,400 of funds from the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STAA) to pay Mr Luo Jie, who moonlighted as a table tennis coach at Fuhua Secondary School between 2001 and 2003. The judge also held that Choo had not intended to cause wrongful loss to the association, nor wrongful gain to the coach, since the money was already contractually due to him.

STTA high performance manager Koh Li Ping, 44, was also acquitted of helping Choo commit the offence.

It is unclear if the prosecution is appealing the decision but a pre-trial conference has been set next Tuesday for other charges of corruption against Choo. These include accepting about $2,000 in bribes from former coaches and a national player between 2003 and 2005.

http://www.straitstimes.com/breakin...uitted-misappropriating-funds-pay-coach-20130

 

[dumbo]

WTF?
Ex-table tennis chief acquitted of misappropriating funds to pay coach

By Ian Poh
Former table tennis chief Choo Wee Khiang was on Friday cleared of misappropriating association funds to pay an assistant coach.


District Judge Lim Tse Haw said that Choo, 58, had not dishonestly misappropriated $8,400 of funds from the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STAA) to pay Mr Luo Jie, who moonlighted as a table tennis coach at Fuhua Secondary School between 2001 and 2003. The judge also held that Choo had not intended to cause wrongful loss to the association, nor wrongful gain to the coach, since the money was already contractually due to him.

STTA high performance manager Koh Li Ping, 44, was also acquitted of helping Choo commit the offence.

It is unclear if the prosecution is appealing the decision but a pre-trial conference has been set next Tuesday for other charges of corruption against Choo. These include accepting about $2,000 in bribes from former coaches and a national player between 2003 and 2005.

http://www.straitstimes.com/breakin...uitted-misappropriating-funds-pay-coach-20130

i am convinced this chap has got very strong backing somewhere. he was jailed only for weeks for the cheating / falsification offence, lesser mortals will end up at least few years in changi. after he came out he was given directorship in some ntuc companies. now he is acquitted for another cheating case.

 

[Scrooball (clone)]

Integrity....such a cheap and useless word these days

 

[laksaboy]

If you're not convinced that the Singapore judiciary is corrupt beyond redemption, perhaps this little piece of news will finally change your mind.

 

[GoldenDragon]

AGC and whoever investigated this case deserves a tight slap. How can an ex-MIW be dishonest? Rumour I heard, both accused persons are a "pair'.

 

[laksaboy]

AGC and whoever investigated this case deserves a tight slap. How can an ex-MIW be dishonest? Rumour I heard, both accused persons are a "pair'.

What a photogenic couple. They even have the same stiff lower lip.

 

[GoldenDragon]

What a photogenic couple. They even have the same stiff lower lip.

I amy be wrong here but did Shanmugam defend Choo in his earlier case?

 

[Narong Wongwan]

Why bother to charge if kangaroos are going to let him off?
Some kind of warning shot? A public dressing down? Some power play?

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

With the latest corruption scandal erupting (CPIB officer), the PAP had to let Choo Wee Khiang be acquitted so that the PAP is not seen to be tainted with too much corruption.

Choo Wee Khiang is a very lucky man. You could say he was in the right place at the right time.

 

[sam heng]

A fair verdict.

 

[leetahbar]

could be related to his crybaby nephew desmond's influence?

Shin Min Daily News
新加坡乒乓总会前会长朱为强被控失信8400元，今早判无罪释放。不过，他还面对剩余的控状，下周二要进行审前会议。

there are 2 more cases pending against him. no prize for guessing what would be the end verdict.

 

[yellowarse]

 

[wendychan]

Integrity....such a cheap and useless word these days

:p.................................

 

[Tuayapeh]

Ridiculous case to begin with........

 

[Confuseous]

WTF?
Ex-table tennis chief acquitted of misappropriating funds to pay coach

By Ian Poh

The judge also held that Choo had not intended to cause wrongful loss to the association, nor wrongful gain to the coach, since the money was already contractually due to him.


STTA high performance manager Koh Li Ping, 44, was also acquitted of helping Choo commit the offence.

It is unclear if the prosecution is appealing the decision but a pre-trial conference has been set next Tuesday for other charges of corruption against Choo. These include accepting about $2,000 in bribes from former coaches and a national player between 2003 and 2005.

http://www.straitstimes.com/breakin...uitted-misappropriating-funds-pay-coach-20130

Why are we talking about intentions here? And if the money is contractually due to the coach, then wtf is the case about?

 

[Slayer]

Ex-STTA chief cleared of 1 charge

Ian Poh
The Straits Times
Monday, Jul 29, 2013

Former chief of the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) Choo Wee Khiang was on Friday acquitted of misusing its money to pay a coach who moonlighted at a school.

But the former Member of Parliament for Jalan Besar GRC, who is widely credited with Singapore's silver medal success at the 2008 Olympics, is not in the clear yet.

Choo, 59, bowed solemnly from the dock after a district court cleared him of one charge of criminal breach of trust, following his arrest in 2011 and a trial that began in February this year.

He later declined to comment to the media in view of a possible appeal by the prosecution, with three corruption charges against him still pending.

Choo had been accused of misappropriating $8,400 in 2005 from the association, which he was then president of, to pay an assistant coach who moonlighted at Fuhua Secondary School from 2001 to 2003.

Ms Koh Li Ping, a 45-year-old former high-performance manager with the association, was also cleared of abetting Choo to commit the offence.

A key issue in favour of Choo was what the money entrusted to him had been meant for.

District Judge Lim Tse Haw found that the money - taken out of a $9,600 training and consultancy contract between the school and association - was meant for the "special" purpose of paying Chinese national Luo Jie the money that the school owed him for coaching work.

This contract was really a "front" for the school to pay Mr Luo, the judge found, since the coach - whose work permit allowed him to work only for the STTA - had flouted employment laws here by moonlighting.

Choo thus did not need further approval to use the $8,400 to pay the coach, and had therefore not breached his duties to the association.

"At worst, (Choo) is guilty of negligence in agreeing to charge below market rate to defray the association's costs in rendering coaching services to Fuhua," the judge saidon Frirday.

This behaviour, added the judge, was not dishonest coming from someone who did not gain personally from the matter, and who had wanted to help Mr Luo get his payment so the coach could focus on his coaching duties with the association.

Neither had Choo caused any wrongful loss to the association in approving the payment, since Fuhua's principal would not have agreed to pay the fees for the consultancy contract if it was not for the purpose of paying the coach.

Judge Lim added that Mr Luo, who has since gained permanent resident status, was contractually entitled to be paid in return for giving the private coaching - even if employment laws here may have been infringed, which is a separate issue.

Choo, who could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined had he been convicted, has also claimed trial for three other charges of corruption. These include accepting bribes from former coaches and a national player between 2003 and 2005.

A pre-trial conference has been fixed for next Tuesday.

Choo stepped down from the association in 2008 after nearly 20 years at the helm. He was last understood to be involved in golf course management.