Table tennis trial: School paid '400% fee mark-up'

[BuiKia]

The school at the centre of a table tennis trial paid a "400 per cent mark-up" on its previous payment for a coaching scheme in the sport, the court heard yesterday.

A witness from the Ministry of Education also said Fuhua Secondary went about nominating the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) as its table tennis consultants in a "quite disturbing" way.

The "revelations" came as defence lawyers for former STTA officials Choo Wee Khiang, 58, and Koh Li Ping, 44 - accused of embezzling $8,400 - continued the argument that the school signed the contract in 2004 as a way to pay Chinese national Luo Jie wages owed from his time as a coach there.

They told the court Fuhua Secondary signed a contract in 2004 to pay the STTA $9,600 for 30 weekly coaching sessions, about $320 for each two-hour session. This was four times the $40-an-hour rate promised to Mr Luo, according to former teacher Doreen Chan Hwee Choo, who ran the school's table tennis team from 2000 to 2003.