SINGAPORE — A man was charged on Tuesday (Aug 8) with cheating insurance companies into paying out almost S$77,000 for work injury claims.

Indian national Saha Ranjit Chandra, 48, had used the name of former opposition politician and lawyer Charles Yeo Yao Hui in negotiating and settling work injury claims for foreign workers.

Chandra was handed five charges including cheating, furnishing false information to a public servant and negotiating legal claims when he was not authorised to do so.

According to charge sheets, there were two work injury claims for two foreign workers.

Chandra is accused of first cheating the Great Eastern Life Assurance Co into disbursing a settlement sum of S$35,000 to Whitefield Law Corporation between July and November 2020.

The sum was for a workplace injury claim by a Mr Manbir Singh. Chandra is accused of negotiating with Great Eastern using the name of Yeo, who was then director of Whitefield.

Chandra also allegedly cheated China Taiping Insurance into releasing a settlement sum of S$32,584 for the workplace injury claim of a Mr Sikder Md Shalim to Whitefield between January and February 2021.

Another S$9,237.80 was disbursed to Joseph Chen & Co. 

Chandra again allegedly corresponded with the insurer in the name of Charles Yeo, deceiving the insurer into believing they were corresponding with an authorised person.

Separately, Chandra is accused of failing to declare that he was under investigation, in an application to the law ministry's Registrar of Regulated Dealers for a Precious Stones and Precious Metals Dealer licence in January 2022.

On Tuesday, the prosecutor told the court that Chandra had previously applied for his passport, in an application denied by the courts.

The application was rejected after he claimed he wanted to go to a jewellery expo in Dubai but was not "particularly clear" about this. He also said he wanted to go for a watch show in Abu Dhabi.

"Even in Singapore, CAD had difficulty securing his attendance for investigations," said the prosecution, referring to the police's Commercial Affairs Department. He added that there were likely to be additional charges.

Chandra will return to court in October.

Yeo, the lawyer whose name Chandra allegedly used, is facing criminal charges himself. The former chairman of the Reform Party fled Singapore after charges were filed against him and has told an investigation officer that he does not intend to return.

He breached bail conditions by failing to return to Singapore after a work trip and a warrant of arrest remains against him. CNA