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HE IS facing charges over an April 14 armed robbery in which $450,000 was stolen from a hotel guest.
But before he committed the alleged offence at Marina Bay Sands, Octavius Tok Tien Howe had apparently lived the high life as a guest at the integrated resort, dining at its restaurants and gambling at the casino.
MBS alleged that during his two-week stay that ended on April 8, Tok had charged to his room, among other things, 125 bottles of liquor and wine worth $522,481, 5,285 packs of cigarettes, and 62 phone top-up cash cards, but left without paying.
The hotel is taking Tok to court over an unpaid bill of about $620,000.
Tok, 37, is currently in remand in Changi Prison pending a criminal trial for allegedly robbing an MBS hotel guest of $450,000 on April 14 with an accomplice. Both men were allegedly armed with a 25cm knife.
The former racehorse owner is understood to have been living in a condominium along Lloyd Road.
He was also a director and shareholder of a company – which ran, among other things, massage parlours – that was gazetted to be struck off two weeks ago.
As a hotel guest at MBS, Tok charged various items from establishments within MBS, like the gift shop, casino bar, and Sky On 57 restaurant, to his hotel room.
He was also billed $6,027 for hotel rooms, according to court documents filed by MBS.
Tok dined at restaurants like Ku De Ta, Imperial Treasures and Hide Yamamoto and charged the bills to his hotel room, but these are not included in MBS’ claim.
He collected the wine and liquor bottles from the MBS’ Fuse Bar and at other times had them delivered to his room.
Hotel staff, on three occasions, helped him to remove baggage and shopping bags from his hotel room.
His final order of 27 bottles of wine and liquor worth $180,000 on April 5 was delivered directly to a car parked in the hotel’s driveway, at his request. The following day, two senior hotel staff met him to discuss settlement of the charges.
He allegedly told them that the charging of large amounts to his hotel room without having to settle the charges immediately was a loophole in the hotel’s system that he exploited.
He also added that the wine and liquor bottles were stored in his warehouse and he would return the items the next day.
Three days of talks with senior MBS officials followed, by which time his overall bill had climbed to $965,835.
He had the sum pared down to $792,318, after he said he would return the liquor and cigarettes to Ku De Ta.
He issued a DBS cheque for $790,000 on the afternoon of April 12, following a further discount. But within 30 minutes, an MBS officer was told by the bank that there was a problem with the cheque. MBS officials also learnt later that Tok had countermanded the order to have the cheque honoured.
On the same day he issued the cheque, he had requested a VIP Room in the casino. This was arranged for him, but later in the afternoon he disappeared.
An MBS official called him and was told he would return at 7pm with a replacement cheque from HSBC.
He never showed up, and MBS lodged a police report on April 19.
Tok was arrested at Changi Airport on April 20, as he returned from abroad. He was charged separately two days later with the April 14 armed robbery of the hotel guest.
MBS lawyers S. Suressh and Toh Wei Yi from Harry Elias on Tuesday obtained a High Court order to serve an injunction on Tok through his officer in charge at Changi Prison.
The court injunction issued by Justice Steven Chong prohibits Tok from disposing of any of his assets in Singapore up to the value of the monies owed to MBS.
It also authorises the lawyers to obtain information about his assets from his bank accounts here and other sources.
Who in de sane mind will go IR buy 5285 packet of ciggy?? IR run by FT izit?? Tat probably explain it all...
