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Jun 6, 2011
Fined $8,000 for inflating car insurance claim
By Khushwant Singh
A former insurance claim advisor was fined $8,000 for inflating the cost of repairs done to a car involved in an accident in April 2009. Liew Hock Wei, 29, had pleaded guilty last week to trying to cheat NTUC Income Insurance Cooperative of $9,449. -- ST PHOTO: AZIZ HUSSIN
IN THE first case of its kind, a former insurance claim advisor was fined $8,000 for inflating the cost of repairs done to a car involved in an accident in April 2009.
Liew Hock Wei, 29, had pleaded guilty last week to trying to cheat NTUC Income Insurance Cooperative of $9,449.
Then, a district court heard that he had submitted a claim for $21,363 for costs of repairs to the car. It had been left in the car park of Bukit Batok Street 32 when another car hit it.
The insurance firm appointed independent surveyor JP Knights to assess the repairs and discovered that the radiator and the rear tailgate had not been replaced as claimed by Liew.
During further investigations, the Malaysian admitted that 17 other parts had been repaired and not replaced. These included the front bonnet, aircon condenser and rear bumper. The total cost of all of these items he had initially claimed had been replaced added up to $9,440.
Liew, who was then working for motor workshop MBM Wheelpower told police that it was 'market practice' to inflate insurance claims.
Defence counsel Anand Nalachandran had confirmed that the money would have gone to the workshop and not to his client. Liew had committed the offence out of 'over-zealousness', the lawyer added.
In passing sentence, district judge Kessller Soh said while offences involving cheating insurance companies usually carried a jail sentence, in Liew's case a stiff fine would be an appropriate deterrence.
