Paradise Group fined $530k for tampering with gas meters

SINGAPORE — Restaurant chain Paradise Group has been fined S$530,000, for using almost S$640,000 worth of gas without paying a cent, by tampering with its restaurants’ gas meters — actions the prosecution described as “criminal”, “carefully orchestrated”, and endorsed by the “upper-most level” of the company’s management.

The company, which manages 24 outlets in Singapore alone, was convicted early this month on 21 charges of tampering with gas meters and eight charges of dishonestly consuming gas. The fine is in addition to the cost of gas illegally consumed, which is recoverable by City Gas.

Delivering the sentence on Friday (June 24), District Judge Ng Peng Hong agreed with the prosecution — which asked for the maximum fine of S$610,000 — that the offences were premeditated, committed over a prolonged time period, and caused substantial losses to the gas supplier.

The fraud, which persisted from between August 2011 and April 2012, came to light in March 2012, when gas provider City Gas detected an abnormally low consumption of gas at the Taste Paradise outlet at ION Orchard.

An inspection by City Gas and SP PowerGrid (SPPG) revealed that the restaurant’s gas meter had been tampered with — the bypass valve on the gas meter was left open, allowing gas to flow without registering on the meters. The lock on the valve was also found to be different from those used by SPPG.

Subsequent inspections at 23 other restaurants run by the chain — which has outlets in seven other countries in Asia and the Middle East — also uncovered similar ulterior tampering.

Pressing for a deterrent sentence, prosecutors acting for the Energy Market Authority, which regulates the gas industry here, had argued that theft of utilities in a resource-scarce country like Singapore would lead to suppliers and consumers having to bear the losses.

They also highlighted public safety concerns. “If the gas meter installation was somehow badly mishandled in the tampering process, gas leakage or explosion may occur, leading to property damage, injuries and/or deaths,” said the prosecution.

The sentence must deter enterprises with financial might from similar offences, said the prosecution. “Small fines would simply be regarded as an insignificant business cost that can easily be defrayed or written off,” they said.

In mitigation, lawyers from Engelin Teh Practice, acting for Paradise Group maintained that the company itself had been “victims of a scam” by a freelance gas contractor called Ah Soon, who had assured them that gas meters will not be touched during gas servicing.

They also disagreed with the prosecution’s charge that the chain’s acts represented “the worst type of case” for tampering and dishonest consumption offences.

“A missing lead seal, in our respectful submission, falls very much within the lower end of the range of possible tampering activities,” said the defence.

TODAY understands that Paradise Group has yet to make any restitution to City Gas.

The penalty for altering and tampering with a gas meter is a fine of up to S$10,000 and a jail term of up to a year. Dishonest use of gas could result in a fine of up to S$50,000 and up to five years in jail.