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Five who fleeced elderly by posing as Govt officials charged

SINGAPORE — Five former contractors from Shinden General Contractor were charged in the State Courts yesterday with cheating and abetment by conspiring to cheat.

SINGAPORE — Five former contractors from Shinden General Contractor were charged in the State Courts yesterday with cheating and abetment by conspiring to cheat.

Among the five, Chong Sin Yu, 33, faces the most charges: Two counts of cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, and three counts of abetment by conspiracy to cheat and dishonestly induce delivery of property.

The other four — Khaw Ee Leong, 27; Phua Kok Seong, 26; Ooi Chong Hee, 38; and Ng Huay Yin, 42 — each face two to four charges of cheating and abetment by conspiracy to cheat.

Between April last year and January this year, they had allegedly passed themselves off as representatives from the Housing and Development Board (HDB), town councils and other government agencies, entering homes and persuading homeownersto fork out sums of money ranging from S$10 to S$400 for deposits for renovation or repair works.

In November, the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) released an alert that Shinden, known as Upgrading General Contractorby then, was going around HDB flats and offering to complete renovation or repair works for residents.

Last year, CASE handled seven cases involving the company, with residents reporting that the works were done poorly or not done at all. According to the consumer watchdog, Shinden allegedly targeted elderly residents and offered a discount to entice the seniors to sign a contract.

On Jan 28, officers from Tanglin Police Division arrested nine people from the company. Receipt books, company passes and mobile phones were seized.

Court bail for the five charged was set at S$15,000, with agency bail revoked under the conditions that their passports are surrendered, they do not come in contact with their victims, do not contact any of the prosecution’s witnesses, and report to the investigating officers as and when required.

Ng and Chong asked for a bail reduction. Ng pleaded that she was a single mother taking care of her children, while Chong said he was currently unemployed, but District Judge May Mesenas denied their requests.

Ooi, Ng, Chong and Phua have been given two weeks to engage a lawyer, and their cases will be heard again on July 30. Khaw requested representation, with his pretrial conference fixed for Aug 12.

The offence of cheating carries a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine.

LOUISA TANG

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