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Bookie who turned to crime to pay for daughter’s medical fees breaks down in court

SINGAPORE — A bookie who collected S$10 million to S$20 million in illegal 4D and Toto bets over nine years broke down in court on Friday (Dec 14), as his lawyer recounted the financial stress that apparently made him resort to crime.

SINGAPORE — A bookie who collected S$10 million to S$20 million in illegal 4D and Toto bets over nine years broke down in court on Friday (Dec 14), as his lawyer recounted the financial stress that apparently made him resort to crime.

Lim Teng Kok, 68, pleaded guilty to five charges: One under the Common Gaming Houses Act, one under the Remote Gambling Act, and three under the Organised Crime Act.

He will be sentenced on Jan 15 and is out on bail of S$15,000.

Lim had at least 16 agents working under him and earned a total of S$290,000 to S$349,000 in commission from his role in an online gambling ring, said to be one of the largest syndicates uncovered in Singapore to date.

According to defence lawyer Steven Lam, Lim began helping a friend called Ah Tee to collect 4D bets in 2005.

Lim was earning about S$1,800 a month as a hawker stall helper and, around the time, his daughter — who was then 19 — was diagnosed with kidney failure and hepatitis C.

That year, she was hospitalised for 44 days and Lim felt he could not cope with the medical bills even with help from social welfare organisations, said Mr Lam. He did not elaborate on what help Lim received from the Government or charities, only telling the court that he had been volunteering with the National Kidney Foundation with his wife.

Lim donated one of his kidneys to his daughter in 2009 when she overcame hepatitis C.

According to Mr Lam, Lim also had to shoulder the medical expenses of his wife, who had pneumonia in 2011 and suffers from other conditions, as well as his mother before she died in 2012.

Lim’s own health is poor, added Mr Lam, who urged the court to temper justice with compassion.

At one point during the court hearing, Lim shouted “Stop it!” when he could not bear hearing more of his story being told to the court. This prompted District Judge Ng Peng Hong to ask if he needed a break in the hearing, but Lim composed himself.

His wife, daughter and son were also in court and teary-eyed.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Teo Lu Jia is seeking a jail sentence of five years and four months and a fine of S$288,000, while Mr Lam asked for a jail sentence of no more than four years and a S$200,000 fine for his client.

The court heard that sometime in 2007, Ah Tee suggested that Lim could earn more money working as a 4D collector directly under Ah Tee’s boss, a 62-year-old man named Lean Kay Chong.

Lim was then recruited to source for punters and invite them to gamble and bet illegally on 4D and Toto with him.

He got a commission of 10 per cent of the total bets collected from his punters, and would get another 5 per cent of the winning amount if his punters struck lottery.

He had up to 80 punters placing illegal 4D and Toto bets with him at every draw date, and he eventually had at least 16 people collecting bets under him.

He offered agents under him a 7 to 10 per cent commission on the bets they collected. This was a role he took on in late 2012 at Lean’s suggestion.

Around 2014, Lean asked if he wanted to start collecting bets online, which would be automatically tabulated.

As it was more convenient, Lim agreed and worked with a woman from an operations centre in Malaysia to get an online account.

Workers from the operations centre would periodically send him different links with the same website format for bets to be placed.

The prosecution argued that Lim played an “integral role” in the syndicate, which saw 49 people including Lean arrested in November 2016.

The syndicate had wider links to a remote gambling group run by three brothers — Eric Seet, 63, Steven Seet, 54, and Philip Seet, 71 — who are shareholders of two illegal gambling websites, asure6.net and 888pool.net.

The ring had three main clusters and Lean was the leader of one cluster, which had 95 agents.

About S$26.64 million in bets was routed through the syndicate in the five months between June and November 2016, said Ms Teo.

Besides Lim, two others who were part of the ring have been dealt with so far.

Another of Lean’s agents named Or Poh Soon was sentenced to two years’ jail and a fine of S$50,000. The 55-year-old newspaper vendor earned about S$62,000 in commission between 2013 and 2016.

A runner for Lean, Seah Ee Lam, 67, was sentenced to three years and four months’ jail and fined S$108,000. He collected bets from Lean’s agents or punters, and distributed winnings to them between 2009 and 2015.

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