Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Car dealer jailed for cheating S$900,000 from 17 customers; some had vehicles repossessed by credit firm

SINGAPORE — The sole owner of a car dealership was sentenced to four years and four months’ jail on Friday (April 9) for cheating more than a dozen buyers of second-hand vehicles they had bought from him.

One victim paid Lee Kin Wah about S$100,000 for a Toyota Estima Aeras after trading in his old vehicle. Ownership of the car was never transferred to him and it was eventually repossessed by a credit company and sold off.

One victim paid Lee Kin Wah about S$100,000 for a Toyota Estima Aeras after trading in his old vehicle. Ownership of the car was never transferred to him and it was eventually repossessed by a credit company and sold off.

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

  • Lee Kin Wah did not transfer ownership of the cars after customers paid him in full
  • He kept the money to increase his company’s cash flow instead of paying off a credit company 
  • The creditor that he was getting loans from repossessed seven of the cars that had already been handed to buyers 

 

SINGAPORE — The sole owner of a car dealership was sentenced to four years and four months’ jail on Friday (April 9) for cheating more than a dozen buyers of second-hand vehicles they had bought from him.

Lee Kin Wah, who ran Ken Garage along Turf Club Road, had pledged several vehicles to a credit company in order to get loans.

When customers paid for their cars, Lee kept the money to increase his company’s cash flow instead of repaying the credit company. 

As a result, seven of the cars paid for by customers ended up getting repossessed by the creditor and sold off.

The amount involved a total of S$909,000 with Lee having made restitution of about S$369,000.

Lee, a 56-year-old Singaporean, pleaded guilty on Friday to six counts of cheating. He will begin serving his sentence on April 22.

District Judge Ng Peng Hong took into consideration another 11 similar charges for sentencing purposes.

WHAT LEE DID

The court heard that Lee entered into a credit facility contract with SRS Auto Holdings in early 2018 for Ken Garage.

SRS provided floor stock financing, where it gave loans to car dealers and in return, the dealer was required to have a vehicle of at least an equivalent value as collateral which would be placed under SRS’ ownership.

The dealer would sell off the pledged vehicle at a higher price to pay off the initial loan to SRS while still earning some profit.

When the dealer handed over the sales proceeds, SRS would transfer ownership of the pledged vehicle to the buyer. 

As mandated by the Land Transport Authority (LTA), this must be done within seven days of the buyer receiving the vehicle.

Lee’s customers paid for their cars either in cash, or a combination of cash and a trade-in of their existing cars.

Court documents showed that from September 2017 to February 2019, 17 customers paid sums of between S$10,178 and S$100,073 for cars such as a Toyota Estima and a Mercedes Benz.

The victim who forked out the largest sum had traded in his existing vehicle for S$15,000 to get a Toyota Estima Aeras. He then paid the balance of S$85,000 via a cheque to Ken Garage and received his new car on the same day.

But in March 2019, he lodged a police report after realising that ownership of the car had still not been transferred to him. SRS eventually repossessed and sold off the car. 

The other 16 victims also lodged police reports.

Seven cars were repossessed and sold off while the ownership transfer of most of the remaining cars were resolved. 

HAD TO SELL OFF FLAT TO MAKE RESTITUTION: LAWYER

Deputy Public Prosecutor Daphne Jazreen Chee argued for a sentence of six years and two months’ jail, describing Lee as a serial cheater given the number of victims and the amount involved. 

Lee’s lawyer SS Dhillon asked for a jail term of three years and six months instead.

In mitigation, he laid out the steps that his client had taken to make restitution and stressed that Lee had not kept the money for his personal benefit.

“What he was essentially doing was to keep the company alive… hoping it would come out of its losses. So the facts of this case are very peculiar.”

Mr Dhillon also told the court that Lee sold off his Housing and Development Board flat to pay back some of his victims and now lives in his brother’s flat. 

Lee is “now left with a paltry sum of S$80 in his bank account” and used his savings from the past 20 years to pay off his company’s debts, said the lawyer.

“Basically, he’s now a pauper. He cannot point a finger to any of his employees but to blame himself for his foolishness for not monitoring his company accounts properly,” Mr Dhillon said.

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

Related topics

cheating car dealer court crime

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.