Foreign talent's contributions to Singapore

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Trio fined over $600,000 in total for dealing in duty-unpaid liquor​

The group were busted in an operation by Singapore Customs officers on May 11, near Woodlands Avenue 6. PHOTO: SINGAPORE CUSTOMS
Carmen Sin

Oct 24, 2023

SINGAPORE – Three people were fined more than $600,000 in total for dealing in duty-unpaid liquor last Wednesday, Singapore Customs said on Tuesday.
Singaporean Wang Benshi was fined $220,000, while his wife Yan Liping, a permanent resident, and her brother Yan Bingzeng, a Chinese national, were fined $203,000 each.
The trio were nabbed after the authorities seized 259 bottles of contraband liquor from them, amounting to $28,317 in evaded duty and goods and services tax.
Yan Bingzeng will serve a 53-day jail term in lieu of paying his fine.
The group were busted in an operation by Singapore Customs officers on May 11, near Woodlands Avenue 6, the agency said.
Its officers caught Yan Liping carrying two red plastic bags while Yan Bingzeng was pushing two trolleys laden with boxes at the lift lobby of a residential block. The officers uncovered 54 bottles of duty-unpaid liquor.
Wang then arrived at the lift lobby and admitted to owning the liquor. Officers then searched their home and discovered 205 more bottles of duty-unpaid liquor.

The three were then arrested.
Investigations revealed that Wang had been buying duty-unpaid liquor from a supplier on social media since 2021 for his father’s consumption. But in 2023, he took over his supplier’s stock and began selling the booze himself.
He stored his stock in his house and engaged his wife and brother-in-law to liaise with buyers on the sale and delivery of the spirits.
Customers would collect their duty-unpaid liquor from Yan Liping at the foot of her block, while Yan Bingzeng would go out and deliver orders.
“Buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, possessing or dealing with duty-unpaid goods are serious offences under the Customs Act and the GST Act,” said Singapore Customs.
Those found guilty can be fined up to 20 times the amount of duty and GST evaded, jailed for up to two years, or both.
Members of the public with information on smuggling activities or evasion of duty or GST can call the Singapore Customs hotline on 1800-233-0000 or e-mail [email protected] to report these illegal activities.

 

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Logistics supervisor stole nearly $337k worth of ART kits, sold them to fund gambling habit​

Lew Yun Poo was jailed for 12 months for stealing $336,960 worth of antigen rapid test kits. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

David Sun
Crime Correspondent

Oct 31, 2023

SINGAPORE – A man employed by a transport and logistics company stole more than $330,000 worth of antigen rapid test (ART) kits, selling them to fund his gambling habit.
On Tuesday, Lew Yun Poo, 33, was jailed for 12 months. He previously pleaded guilty to two counts of theft. Another three charges of theft were taken into consideration for sentencing.
The Malaysian was previously a supervisor employed by 138 Transport and Logistics, and hired part-time workers for one-off jobs.
He was also a driver for the company, and performed jobs that involved transporting goods from a supply chain company in Bulim Avenue in Jurong.
It was through these jobs that he noticed cartons of ART kits left unattended at the premises in Jurong.
Lew then came up with a plan to steal these kits and sell them to unsuspecting people.
He contacted one of the part-time drivers he had previously become acquainted with through the one-off jobs, telling him to use 138 Transport’s company vehicle to drive to the premises in Jurong and pick up unattended cartons of test kits.

The driver, who did not know that Lew did not have permission to take the kits, drove to the premises on Lew’s instructions on five occasions from May 28 to July 17, 2022. He delivered the cartons to Lew.
The transport company also did not know Lew was using its vehicle to steal the kits.
Lew stole more than 100 cartons of ART kits this way before the company in Jurong discovered the theft.
When Lew found out that the company was going to call the police, he contacted the driver and told him to delete all their messages, dispose of the phone and deny knowing him if anyone asked.
The court heard that the total value of kits that were stolen amounted to $336,960, and that Lew had sold them to two directors of other companies and spent the money on gambling.
The police were able to recover only six cartons of the kits, valued at $20,200. Lew has not made restitution for the other kits.
For each count of theft, he could have been jailed for up to three years and fined.

 

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Four years’ jail for 75-year-old ‘serial thief’ who continued stealing while out on bail​

Samuel Devaraj

Nov 1, 2023

SINGAPORE – At a bakery in Orchard Road, Ng Kim Swee, 75, noticed a woman whose handbag was unzipped.
Using one hand to pick up a packet of bread in order not to arouse suspicion, she reached into the bag with her other hand and pulled out a wallet.
She then placed the bread back down and left the store – St Leavens Bakery in Takashimaya Shopping Centre – immediately.
The victim, a 65-year-old female Indonesian tourist, had cash of $2,000 and 3,000,000 Indonesian rupiah in the wallet.
The offence took place on Jan 31, 2023. The victim’s son lodged a police report the next day.
It was among multiple crimes committed by Ng, who was caught for the crime, but went on to reoffended while out on bail – twice.
On Wednesday, the Malaysian was sentenced to four years’ jail, with the prosecution calling her a serial thief.

She pleaded guilty to three charges of theft, while two similar charges were taken into consideration during her sentencing. For each charge of theft, she could have been jailed for up to three years, fined, or both.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Jeremy Bin said her modus operandi was to find crowded stores within shopping malls and search for a target whose handbag was open.
Ng would check for observers and security cameras, and position herself away from the camera’s line of sight.

She would then pretend to browse store items next to the victim, while taking the victim’s wallet from her handbag.
Days earlier, on Jan 22, 2023, Ng was at the Louis Vuitton outlet in Marina Bay Sands at about 3pm when she spotted a handbag that had been placed on a stool. The owner was browsing items on display and talking to an acquaintance.
Investigations revealed that Ng paced back and forth for three minutes in order to find an opportune time to steal items from the handbag without onlookers.
She tried to steal the victim’s wallet from the unclasped handbag, but aborted this attempt as she noticed people approaching her.
When they left, she stepped in front of the handbag, pretended to browse the items in the display cabinet, and used her right hand to reach behind her own back, retrieving the victim’s wallet from her handbag.

The Gucci purse was valued at about $1,500 and contained two credit cards, among other items. The 44-year-old victim made a police report later that day.
Ng was charged on Feb 8, 2023 for both the offences and was released on bail.
A week later, she reoffended.
At the ABC Bargain Store in Bugis Village, she targeted a 48-year-old South Korean tourist whose handbag was unzipped.
While using one hand to browse store items in order not to arouse suspicion, she reached into the victim’s bag with her other hand and pulled out her wallet.
After realising that the wallet itself was of little value, Ng discarded it in a different aisle of the store after taking the cash in it, and left.

The victim’s tour guide called the police later that day.
Ng was charged for this offence on April 26, 2023 and released on bail again.
She stole again four days later.
DPP Bin said over the course of investigations, nine statements were recorded from Ng in which she lied and claimed that she had never stolen anything, even after being shown CCTV footage of her committing the offences.
None of the stolen items were recovered by the police and Ng has not made restitution to any of the victims.
Ng was previously convicted of theft and house-breaking offences in Malaysia on seven occasions. The first was on Oct 21, 1985 and the most recent was on Dec 23, 2019. She was jailed on all the occasions, except for one where she received a fine.

 

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Jail for ex-CEO of Oriental Group Limited over scheme to manipulate the price of its shares​

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

SINGAPORE - The former chief executive of a company previously listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) was sentenced to nine years’ jail on Tuesday for offences including being part of a scheme to manipulate the price of the firm’s shares.
Lee Wan Sing, 47, who was the CEO of steel bar trading firm Oriental Group Limited (OGL) from 2014 to May 2016, also misappropriated $500,000 and used the cash to fund share purchases linked to the scheme. He did not make any restitution.
The prosecution said that the scheme, which began either in October 2014 or earlier, continued from April 8, 2015, to Jan 14, 2016. This was referred to as the “relevant period” in court.
As at March 8, 2016, about $3.2 million was owed to trading firms for trades carried out under accounts linked to the scheme.
This amount has since been fully paid off.
OGL’s shares were listed on the Catalist board of the SGX from Feb 1, 2010, until the firm’s liquidation in May 2019, court documents stated.
The cases involving several other people linked to the firm are still pending.

They include former investor relationship manager Chong Yong Von, 40; Lee Ong, 49, who used to be OGL’s group financial controller; and Tan Seow Juay, 65, one of the firm’s shareholders.
A fourth person, Mr Chan Geok Leng, also known as Allan Chan, who was a shareholder of OGL and the sole director of another firm called GL Engineering, died in October 2021.
Deputy public prosecutors Ryan Lim and Gan Ee Kiat told the court that over a period of at least 15 months, Lee Wan Sing and several others carried out the scheme to artificially push up the price of OGL shares through a system of coordinated trading.

He had also led the overall management of the ruse, giving trading directions to his co-conspirators and recruiting others to lend their trading accounts to him.
The DPPs stressed that the scheme had caused severe market distortion. They said: “The scheme was extensive and effective. At least 50 trading accounts belonging to nine persons were used to conduct trades... including 40 accounts which were opened solely for this purpose.”
Between April 8, 2015, and Jan 14, 2016, 339 million OGL shares were traded through these accounts, amounting to 79.8 per cent of the total volume traded.
Over the same period, OGL’s share price steadily rose by over 300 per cent, against the backdrop of a falling Straits Times Index.

The prosecution said that funds were also needed to pay for these trades, and Lee obtained the monies in three fraudulent ways.
In or around early 2015, he took $500,000 in cash belonging to OGL that was stored in a safe in his office.
He also obtained credit facilities totalling $1.4 million from banks by pledging his OGL shares as security, concealing the fact that their value had been artificially inflated.
He then used the facilities to obtain funds for the scheme.
The DPPs added that he also worked with Mr Chan to cause OGL to disburse a total of $650,000 to GL Engineering for fictitious purchases. The money was then used for the scheme.
Lee took steps to hide his illegal conduct from OGL’s auditors by creating false documents, including sales orders and tax invoices.
The scheme was discovered in early 2016, and Lee left Singapore in May 2017.
He was arrested in Malaysia in December 2021 and brought back to Singapore.

 

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Ex-CEO of steel trading firm charged after he allegedly misappropriated $500k in 2014​

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

DECEMBER 23, 2021

SINGAPORE - The former chief executive of a company previously listed on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange (SGX) has been hauled to court after he allegedly misappropriated $500,000 in 2014.
Malaysian Lee Wan Sing, now 43, who was the CEO of steel trader Oriental Group, then left Singapore before investigations into the case had started.
The Singapore Police Force said in a statement on Thursday (Dec 23) that their Malaysian counterparts arrested him on Dec 1 this year, and he was taken back to the Republic.
He was charged in court three days later with one count of criminal breach of trust.
According to court documents, he had been entrusted with the cash paid by one Mr Lim Soon Huat.
The police did not disclose when Lee Wan Sing left Singapore or whereabouts he was arrested across the Causeway. Investigations into his case are ongoing.
The Business Times had earlier reported that Oriental Group was delisted in 2019.

The police said in their statement that three other people formerly linked to the firm were charged in court on Dec 10 with offences under the Securities and Futures Act.
They are: Chong Yong Von, 38; Lee Ong, 47; and Tan Seow Juay, 63.
Chong used to be the steel trader's finance manager while Lee Ong was its group financial controller. Tan used to be its substantial shareholder.

Tan and Chong are Singaporeans. Lee Ong is a Malaysian national who is also a Singapore permanent resident.
The trio now face between three and 24 charges each.
The police added: "These three individuals were charged with conspiring with various persons to engage in a course of conduct for the purpose of creating a false appearance of Oriental Group's share price between April 2015 and January 2016. The alleged impugned trades were placed through at least 52 trading accounts."
Separately, Lee Ong is also accused of instigating a former employee of Oriental Group to forge a document for the purpose of cheating.

He allegedly instigated one Mr Sim Yeng Fen to create a false document, purportedly issued by a company called GL Engineering.
Details about the "return note" dated March 1, 2016, were not disclosed in court documents.
The cases involving Lee Wan Sing, Lee Ong, Chong and Tan have been adjourned to January next year.
For criminal breach of trust, an offender can be jailed for up to 15 years and fined.
And for forgery for the purpose of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.

 

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Man drove against traffic on Pan Island Expressway for 12km, gets jail and driving ban​

The judge said she was "unable to accept or comprehend" the defence's argument that if the man had been driving the right way, he would have been in the slowest lane.

Stock photo of a driver at night. (Photo: iStock)

Lydia Lam​

@LydiaLamCNA
20 Nov 2023

SINGAPORE: After drinking alcohol into the wee hours with his friends, a man drove home against the flow of traffic for about 12km along the Pan Island Expressway (PIE).
He passed more than 40 vehicles, driving at speeds of up to 91kmh, with oncoming motorists veering aside or switching lanes to avoid him.
Aswani Daryanani Mohit Riz, a 27-year-old Singapore permanent resident, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and was sentenced to eight weeks' jail and disqualified from driving for three years.
According to a judgment made available over the weekend, Aswani drove his Mitsubishi Outlander to Golden Mile Tower past midnight on May 30, 2022 to have food and drinks with friends.
He drank multiple glasses of beer and left at about 3.45am. He decided to drive home, despite having drunk alcohol and feeling sleepy, the court heard.
At about 4am, Aswani drove his car against the flow of traffic onto PIE towards Tuas via the slip road to Paya Lebar Road.

The travel path of the car as shown in court documents.
He continued driving against traffic for about 12km along the PIE towards East Coast Parkway (ECP), knowing that he was driving against traffic.
After entering ECP, he made a U-turn along Airport Boulevard and joined the normal flow of traffic before heading home to Marine Crescent.
Surveillance cameras that captured Aswani's journey along PIE showed him driving past more than 40 vehicles, including cars, motorcycles, vans and lorries.
He often drove in the fastest lane and veered between lanes, with other road users forced to take evasive action by veering away from him, filtering lanes or braking to avoid a collision.
A total of 28 video clips depicting the journey were sent to the Health Sciences Authority for speed analysis, and Aswani was found to have driven at average speeds of between 41kmh and 91kmh at various times along the PIE.
A member of the public called the police on the day of the incident, saying they had seen a car driving against the flow of traffic.
Aswani was arrested at his workplace the next afternoon, with breath tests showing readings below the stipulated breath alcohol limit.

"SERIOUS POTENTIAL HARM"​

The prosecution had sought four to eight weeks' jail and a three to four years' driving ban for Aswani, pointing to the serious potential harm.
They argued that Aswani had decided to drive despite drinking alcohol. By the time he was arrested, his breath alcohol level had almost returned to normal and there was no drink driving charge, but the prosecution said the sentence imposed should reflect "disapprobation of the accused's selfish and irresponsible decision to drink and drive".
Even after realising that he was driving against the flow of traffic, Aswani did not pull over or call for help but continued driving home, taking no steps to mitigate risk for others such as slowing down, said the prosecution.
The absence of injury was "merely fortuitous and should be credited to the ability of other road users to take evasive action in time", the prosecution said.
Aswani's lawyers said their client was not intoxicated when he was driving. They said he had no prior convictions or traffic violations, and that he had gone the wrong way because he was unfamiliar with roads in Singapore.
Mr Koh Weijin Leon and Mr Chng He Han argued that Aswani had "panicked when he realised that he was going the opposite direction".
This confusion was exacerbated by his eye condition, keratoconus. He underwent surgery for his condition but still suffers slight impairment, even though he had been told it would not impact his ability to drive.
As a result of his eye condition and low lighting at night, he struggled to find his way out of the expressway, claimed the lawyers.
They said that while it was true that Aswani's vehicle could be seen on the first lane of the road, the fast lane, he would have been in the slowest lane if he had been driving the right way.
They claimed that he chose to stay in that lane because he believed that vehicles in that lane would travel at a slower speed.
In response, the prosecution said his eye condition and the fact that Aswani did not drive often "should have made him mindful of his incompetence" and he should not have driven.
The judge agreed with the prosecution that the risk of harm was "exceptionally high" in this case, and that Aswani had driven for a "very substantial distance".
He drove in a particularly dangerous manner for almost an hour, she said.
The judge said she was "unable to accept or comprehend" the defence's contention that if the accused had been driving the right way, he would have been in the slowest lane.
"It was not a mitigating factor or justification that he had chosen to stay in that lane because he believed that the vehicles in that lane would travel at a slower speed, reducing the risk of danger," said District Judge Salina Ishak.
"The fact remains that he had driven in the rightmost lane where other motor vehicles travelling in the right direction would be at a speed higher than the average speed on a normal road," she said.
Aswani intends to appeal against his sentence and is out on bail pending appeal.

 

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Cleaner deployed at DHL Singapore tricked friend into giving her S$5,000 to secure fake jobs there, gets jail​

TODAY file photo
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• Jayanthi Subramaniam, 31, was deployed to work as a cleaner at DHL Singapore
• She tricked a friend she met on TikTok into paying her S$5,000 to secure non-existent jobs for foreign workers at the logistics company
• She convinced him that the jobs were genuine by sending photographs and videos of DHL's premises
• She was sentenced to six weeks' jail for cheating

JASMINE ONG​

Published December 5, 2023

SINGAPORE — In need of money for her ailing mother, a woman tricked a friend she met on TikTok into paying her S$5,000 to secure fake jobs for two foreign workers at DHL Singapore.
Jayanthi Subramaniam, a 31-year-old Malaysian, was sentenced to six weeks' jail on Tuesday (Dec 5) after she pleaded guilty to a charge of cheating.
State Prosecuting Officer (SPO) Ng Chee Wee told the court that at the time of the offence, Jayanthi was deployed by a cleaning company to work at the logistics company.
Investigations revealed that she met the victim, Mr Rajappan Balakrishnan, through the video-sharing application TikTok in 2021. They kept in contact through phone calls, text and voice messaging, but never met in person.
Sometime in August, Jayanthi devised a scheme to cheat her friends after she ran into financial difficulties and was unable to repay her loans.

She planned to lie that she had job opportunities at DHL Singapore, since she had been deployed there as a cleaner.
On Aug 29, she contacted Mr Rajappan, an India national, to tell him that she was working for DHL and that there were job opportunities for foreign workers.
She offered to submit work pass applications for these workers even though she did not work for DHL and there were no such jobs, SPO Ng said.
Mr Rajappan then contacted his friend who recommended two acquaintances for the non-existent jobs.
When Mr Rajappan informed Jayanthi about the individuals, she asked for S$5,000 each to process their job and work pass applications.
Mr Rajappan was suspicious because the requested amount was high, but Jayanthi managed to convince him that it was a genuine opportunity by sending photographs and videos of DHL's premises.

She then said that she would accept S$2,500 for each person as a deposit.
Believing her, Mr Rajappan then asked his friend to help transfer S$5,000 into her account.
SPO Ng said that after the amount was transferred, Jayanthi tried to ask Mr Rajappan for more money but he asked for some formal documentation before doing so.
She then stopped asking for money and instead, repeatedly gave him excuses about the job opportunities.
Mr Rajappan filed a police report on Oct 1 and Jayanthi was arrested three days later.
The sum was not recovered because Jayanthi had used it to repay her debts and personal expenses, which she claimed were for her mother's medical bills.

She made a full restitution on Dec 4.
During mitigation, Jayanthi cried as she pleaded with the court to forgive her and give her a chance.
"My mother is a dialysis patient and I had asked for this money because of her medical expenses," she said.
She added that she committed the offence only for her mother and will not make such a mistake again.
For cheating, she could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.

 

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Man who took upskirt videos of his friend’s girlfriend on at least 20 occasions gets jail​

Nadine Chua

Dec 7, 2023

SINGAPORE - A man who took upskirt videos of his friend’s girlfriend on at least 20 occasions was sentenced to 45 weeks’ jail.
The 27-year-old Malaysian, a Singapore permanent resident, also took upskirt videos of another female friend on at least nine occasions.
The offender, who cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the victims’ identities, pleaded guilty to two voyeurism charges on Dec 7.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Niranjan Ranjakunalan said the offender was friends with the first victim, who is 27, her boyfriend, and the second victim, a 26-year-old woman.
They got to know each other in university and later shared a flat together. The first victim was also a colleague of the offender.
In early 2021, the offender began recording upskirt videos of the first victim in their flat. He took videos of her in their office as well and filmed her on at least 20 occasions at both locations.
In 2022, he began recording upskirt videos of the second victim in their flat. He did so on at least nine occasions.

On Nov 23, 2022, he was in the flat when the first victim returned home and went to shower.
Holding his mobile phone, he extended his hand through the toilet window and tried to record a video of her having a bath.
She shouted when she saw his hand, and he quickly retracted it. She called her boyfriend to tell him what had happened, and he rushed home.


Before the boyfriend arrived, the offender sent her a message on Facebook Messenger to apologise.
He then deleted the videos of the two victims from his phone and Google Drive account, thinking he had cleared them all.

When the boyfriend came home, the offender admitted to taking a video, but lied that he did so as he was unsure if there was anyone else in the flat and wanted to record a video to verify who was home.
The offender also lied that this was his first time recording such a video.
The boyfriend checked the offender’s phone and found some similar videos and screenshots he had failed to delete.
He then took the offender to lodge a police report on Nov 24. The offender was arrested the same day.
Seeking between 11½ and 13½ months’ jail for the offender, DPP Niranjan said the offences were committed within the sanctity of the first victim’s own home, where she had the right to feel safe.
“The (offender) also retained the videos he had taken which gave rise to the potential of repeated invasions of the first victim’s privacy long after the videos had been taken,” added the prosecution.
In mitigation, defence counsel Rajan Supramaniam said his client was remorseful and has apologised to the victims for his actions.
The lawyer added that his client had surrendered to the police on his own accord and has made attempts to seek self-help by attending counselling sessions.
Those found guilty of voyeurism can be jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or face any combination of these punishments.