SINGAPORE — Following the exposure of two underage prostitution rackets that rocked the country last year, a third ring involving a minor has been uncovered. Fourteen men, aged between 22 and 75, were hauled to court yesterday for having commercial sex with a girl who was 17 years old.

More men are expected to be charged in the coming days for paying for sex with the same teenager, who cannot be named to protect her identity.

Within two weeks in May this year, the 14 men allegedly paid between S$40 and S$150 for the girl’s sexual services at several budget hotels and a lodging house in the Geylang area, the court heard.

Under the law, anyone who obtains the sexual services of a person under the age of 18 can be jailed for up to seven years and/or fined.

The 14 men are: Ng Chak Song, 57, social worker; Toh Toh Loh, 60, labourer; Shoh Kwan Heng, 42, IT manager; Ho Chee Keong, 36, treasury advisor; Tiah Oon Kai, 66, bookkeeper; Low Kia How, 51, cleaner; Koh Sui Kim, 65, cleaner; Chong Kwong Ann, 75, unemployed (two charges); Lim Chee Seng, 72, house-keeper; Ong Boon Hock, 61, assistant manager (two charges); Ng Keng Siong, 56, project manager; Yap Jun Hao, 22, full-time National Serviceman; Ernest Lee Min Chong, 25, undergraduate; and Yeo Choon Seng, 42, logistics supervisor.

Ten of them are expected to plead guilty, while Lim has claimed trial.

Those admitting to the charges will return to court from Sept 11 onwards.

In the first online vice ring case that grabbed headlines in April last year, high-profile individuals, such as Howard Shaw — the grandson of cinema mogul Runme Shaw, were among the 51 men rounded up for paying for sex with an underage social escort. Twenty of them have been convicted and sentenced although two have launched appeals.

Two months later, in June, a second online vice ring that implicated 10 men emerged. Two of them have been sentenced. AMANDA LEE