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Man who defied court order by hiding S$4.5m of assets gets eight months’ jail

SINGAPORE — A Singaporean businessman who tried to hide about S$4.5 million of his assets to lessen the amount he had to pay his wife after their divorce, then wilfully defied court orders to pay up, was sentenced to eight months’ jail for contempt of court.

SINGAPORE — A Singaporean businessman who tried to hide about S$4.5 million of his assets to lessen the amount he had to pay his wife after their divorce, then wilfully defied court orders to pay up, was sentenced to eight months’ jail for contempt of court.

Even before filing for divorce, Zheng Zhuan Yao, formerly known as Tay Chuan Yao, secretly mortgaged their Stevens Court home, and pledged his shares to an aunt.

And after proceedings started in February 2010, Zheng continued to transfer his shares in various companies to other family members, including his father — Indonesian tycoon Tay Jui Chuan.

The court ordered Zheng to transfer the S$4.25 million matrimonial home — debt-free — to Madam Mok Kah Hong and pay maintenance of S$1.15 million in November 2013.

The Court of Appeal later ruled that while his known matrimonial assets were worth around S$14.4 million, Zheng’s estimated matrimonial assets were S$20 million, in view of his concealments, and raised Mdm Mok’s share of the assets to S$7.05 million in October 2014.

Zheng flouted the order and even defaulted on mortgage payments, leading to Mdm Mok being thrown out of the house. She then took action to jail him for contempt of court.

The apex court sentenced him to eight months’ jail last September, but also offered him “a final indulgence” by giving Zheng a month to cough up the money.

In a written judgment published yesterday, Justice Steven Chong said this was an unfortunate case involving two elements — concealed assets, and willful defiance of several judgments and orders made by the court.

The couple wedded in 1983 and have a 24-year-old son. But unknown to his ex-wife, Zheng also had two children with a mistress.

In convicting Zheng, Justice Chong said several legal principles had to be considered, including proving that the actions of the party alleged to have breached the court order were intentional. The motive was strictly irrelevant, said the judge.

He added that the courts have to be careful in applying the principle that committal proceedings should not be directed against parties with no or little means to pay up.

“It may be used as a smokescreen for the purposes of relitigating issues already determined by the court,” said Justice Chong.

In this case, Zheng had “steadfastly” claimed to be in debt, and had no means to comply with the court order. But Justice Chong noted that he had no documented evidence in support, and hence his claims “ring hollow”.

“There is no question that the husband has the means to comply with the judgment,” he said.

Furthermore, a distinction had to be made between one-off and repeated breaches, and Zheng had a history of “acting in flagrant disregard” of judgments or orders made by various courts.

Justice Chong cited how Zheng had breached an injunction obtained by Mdm Mok by further mortgaging the Stevens Court property, and later caused her to be evicted from it. Apart from that, he made “sporadic payments” to her and failed to comply “substantially” with the maintenance order. The non-compliance was both deliberate and fraudulent, said Justice Chong.

“(Zheng) has concealed assets and embarked on a course of conduct that is calculated to defeat (Mdm Mok’s) entitlement to a share of the matrimonial assets in deliberate defiance of (the) court order,” said the judge.

“This calls for a sentence that is sufficient to adequately express the court’s opprobrium.”

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