SINGAPORE — The mastermind behind the multi-million dollar Keppel Club membership scam — who duped 1,341 people into paying a total of about S$37.5 million for non-existent memberships — has been sentenced to jail.

On Monday (March 26), Setho Oi Lin, otherwise known as Irene Setho, was sentenced to 12 years’ jail by deputy presiding judge Jennifer Marie. The 71-year-old will start serving her sentence on May 7.

Setho had admitted in December last year to 60 counts of cheating, with another 3,121 charges taken into consideration during sentencing.

Setho, who was personal assistant to the club’s general manager when she committed the offences, oversaw membership transfers and pocketed more than S$11 million from unsuspecting victims.

The 113-year-old club, Singapore’s oldest, had 2,855 legitimate members as at August 2014. In 1996, it stopped issuing new memberships, but allowed existing members to sell their memberships at an agreed-upon price.

As part of the scam, Setho would tell prospective buyers that there were club memberships available for transfer.

Instead of paying the club directly, the buyers were instructed to make payments to third parties, including Setho’s friend, and the accomplice’s family members.

Under Setho’s instructions, a supervisor at the membership department would enter these buyers’ names into the database and issue them with membership cards.

From 2004 to 2014, buyers each paid between S$26,500 and S$41,500 for “phantom” memberships.

Last Monday, prosecutors sought a jail term of at least 12 years for Setho, after they took into consideration her restitution of S$3.65 million to the club. 

Originally asking for 15 years’ jail, Deputy Public Prosecutor Hon Yi said that Setho’s offences were “deliberate and carefully planned”.

“She made a deliberate choice to embark on this decade-long criminal spree with meticulous planning,” DPP Hon added.

Setho had also “exploited” the “inner workings” of Keppel Club’s internal processes to her advantage, and for her personal benefit, the prosecutor said.

Furthermore, Setho had taken deliberate steps “to prevent detection of her crimes”, by orchestrating “a methodical scheme to acquire the fruits of her criminal conduct by layering the transactions and engaging the help of a money mule,” he said.

Setho’s lawyers, led by Mr Philip Fong, urged the court to impose a jail sentence of seven years in light of her old age and health.

Setho’s sentencing marks the end of the Keppel Club membership scam, which saw her two other accomplices also sentenced to jail.

In January, former Keppel Club membership department supervisor Nah Hak Chuah, 67, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. Club member Ivy Cheo Soh Chin was given a jail sentence of four-and-a-half years.

For cheating, Setho could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined for each charge.