Pimp who ran nine pubs jailed 35 months

SINGAPORE — The ringleader of possibly the largest vice syndicate in Singapore busted by the police was sentenced to 35 months’ jail yesterday.

Ang Boon Seng, 40, ran nine sleazy pubs, which earned him at least S$1.08 million between June 2009 and August last year. Of his profits, an estimated 40 per cent came from prostitution earnings.

Employing 55 women from the Philippines masquerading as performing artistes, Ang’s business model revolved around selling customers overpriced “ladies’ drinks”. For a certain amount spent on such drinks or if they paid a “bar fine”, customers could get these women to perform sexual favours.

Ang, who pleaded guilty in August to 43 vice-related charges and seven charges brought to the Ministry of Manpower, was also fined S$98,000. The fine was for demanding and receiving money from his Filipino women pub workers as a condition of their employment. District Judge Lim Keng Yeow also ordered Ang to pay back S$3,600.

Ang’s Filipino wife, Ylarde Anne Asuncion, 31, who worked for him, was sentenced to 10 weeks’ jail for two charges of procuring women for the purpose of prostitution. Another five charges, including a charge of living off immoral earnings, were taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that the Filipino women were told they had to settle a “utang” — debt in Tagalog — before they started earning pay from their work in Singapore.

Their debt was shaved off by selling customers “ladies’ drinks” costing between S$22 and S$55 in Ang’s pubs. Depending on the price of the drink, the women earned between three to five points — each point represented a monetary value of S$4 — for each drink sold.

The women were also told they may offer fellatio and masturbation to customers within the pubs after they had bought a minimum number of “ladies’ drinks”. Smoke machines were installed in some rooms in the pubs to provide some cover when sexual services were being provided.

They were also allowed to go out with customers for two hours or overnight, if the latter paid a “bar fine”. This way, they could clear their debt more quickly, the women were told.

Ang’s monthly profits from running these businesses ranged between S$27,000 and S$60,000, the court was told.

To evade the authorities, Ang also set up surveillance cameras in and around his pubs, linking the feeds to his office. Once police officers were spotted, managers at his pubs were alerted through walkie-talkies, who in turn sounded a warning to the women by switching on the lights.

The women also had to pay Ang about 40 points a week for lodging — typically rented out in his managers’ names although he paid for them.

During submissions on sentencing, Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Wee Hao pressed for a three-year jail term for Ang, describing him as the ringleader of a large, highly sophisticated and well-organised syndicate.

There was also a transnational dimension to the offences as Ang’s syndicate maintained a wide network of agents in the Philippines for the recruitment of prostitutes, he added.

“(Ang) carefully chose his managers based on their experience in the pub industry, laid down the policies relating to the provision and price of sexual services within his pubs and determined the measures taken to avoid police detection,” said Mr Tan.