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Thida Jaroonsri, a registered partner of Heng Dee Thai Minimart, was fined S$10,500 for possessing and selling illegally imported meat and meat products, as well as operating a food establishment without a licence, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) said in a statement released on Apr. 15, 2024.
160kg of meat products found to be illegally imported SFA officers found approximately 186kg of assorted meat and fish products on sale or stored for the purpose of sale when conducting an inspection at Heng Dee Thai Minimart on Jul. 12, 2023. The minimart also did not have a valid food establishment licence, said SFA. Approximately 160kg of the meat products were found to be illegally imported from unaccredited sources. All the meat and fish products were seized by the agency. Meat and its products must comply with Singapore's food safety standards and requirements SFA reminded the public that all meat and its products within Singapore can only be imported from accredited sources in approved countries. They must also comply with Singapore's food safety standards and requirements. This is to reduce potential food safety risks. Those found in possession of selling meat and meat products that are illegally imported may face a maximum fine of S$50,000, a maximum of two years in jail, or both. For subsequent offences, the offender may face a fine of S$100,000, a maximum of three years in jail, or both. Food establishments in Singapore must also be licensed in order to operate. Food establishments without a valid SFA licence at the point of inspection may face a maximum fine of S$10,000. For subsequent offences, the offender may face a maximum fine of S$20,000, a maximum of three months in jail, or both. S'pore woman, 23, allegedly extorted S$8,450 from man who procured escort services from her4/17/2024 A 23-year-old woman in Singapore allegedly extorted money from a man who had procured escort services from her.
She has since been arrested, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a news release. Threatened to report him to the police After procuring escort services from the woman, the man was purportedly told by her that she would report him to the police if he failed to give her money. Out of fear, he transferred S$8,450 via bank transfers over seven occasions. Police established woman's identity According to the police, the woman's identity was unknown to the victim. Through ground enquiries and with the aid of images from police cameras and closed-circuit television (CCTV), officers from Central Police Division established the identity of the woman and arrested her on Apr. 15, 2024. Woman to be charged The woman will be charged in court for extortion on Apr. 17, the police shared. Those found guilty can be sentenced to a jail term of not less than two years and not more than seven years and caned. SINGAPORE – Within a span of five months in 2023, a man caused a ruckus in public, stole from a pushcart store and got into a fight.
Muhammad Hafeez Ayub, 30, was sentenced to six weeks’ jail on April 16 and fined $2,800, after pleading guilty to one charge each of public nuisance, theft and affray. Three other charges, which were not mentioned, were taken into consideration. Hafeez, who was unrepresented, told the court that he only had 71 cents and could not afford to pay the fine. He will serve an additional three weeks’ jail in default of the fine. The man is a repeat offender. In 2021, he was jailed for four weeks for theft, and fined $400 for being a public nuisance in another case that year. District Judge Hairul Hakkim Kuthibutheen warned Hafeez that if he continues to break the law, his sentences would only get higher. “For your theft in dwelling charge, you were given four weeks on your last offence. This time it is six weeks, and further convictions will continue to get higher and higher sentences,” the judge said. Hafeez promised to get a full-time job and stay out of trouble. The court heard that on July 22, 2023, Hafeez was at Far East Plaza at 7.25am when he saw a pushcart store. He lifted the canvas covering and took seven earphones and one smartwatch with a total value of $238.20. The pushcart owner made a police report after she realised someone had broken into her pushcart and stolen some items. On Aug 2, 2023, a witness made a police report about Hafeez having a verbal dispute with another person near Stadium MRT. This took place after Liverpool beat Bayern Munich in a match at the National Stadium that ended at 9.35pm. Hafeez then shouted repeatedly while walking, and gestured aggressively to several people who were heading towards the MRT station. He was seen wearing a Liverpool jersey in videos posted on social media at the time. In another case on Dec 22, 2023, a security guard at 313@Somerset alerted the police after seeing Hafeez fighting with another man close to midnight. The fight was caught on the shopping mall’s closed-circuit television. Court documents did not reveal why the two men came to blows. Hafeez was arrested the next day and released on bail a day later. Those found guilty of public nuisance can be fined up to $2,000. If convicted of theft in dwelling, offenders face a jail term of up to seven years, a fine or both. Those convicted of affray may be jailed up to a year, or fined up to $5,000, or both. Cyclist who held on to bonnet in East Coast road rage case likely affected by brain tumour: Lawyer4/17/2024 SINGAPORE – A cyclist who held onto a car bonnet during a row with a driver on East Coast Road on June 2, 2023, was diagnosed with brain tumour shortly after the incident, and the disease likely affected her behaviour, her lawyer said.
Nicolette Tan Shi-en, 32, who was employed as a lawyer at the time, pleaded guilty on April 17 to a charge of causing harassment to the driver, Elaine Michele Ow, 49. Ow pleaded guilty on Feb 15 to one charge of committing a rash act endangering the safety of Tan. She will be sentenced on May 14. Tan admitted to stopping her bicycle in front of the car, confronting Ow and opening a car door. A second charge of obstructing traffic will be taken into consideration for Tan’s sentencing on May 25. Tan’s lawyer Mr Rajan Sanjiv Kumar told the court on April 17 – citing a psychiatrist’s report – that the onset of the tumour in the frontal region of his client’s brain had highly likely influenced her behaviour that day. Mr Rajan, who sought a fine of no more than $2,000, said in mitigation that the location of the tumour may have caused his client to suffer from personality changes and impaired judgment. But he acknowledged that the psychiatrist did not establish a definite causal relationship between the illness and Tan’s offending behaviour. District Judge Janet Wang questioned if Tan’s psychiatrist had the expertise to draw such conclusions, adding that a neurologist would be better equipped to give an opinion on this issue. The judge noted that Tan’s tumour, which has been removed, was benign. Mr Rajan said he will seek an opinion from Tan’s neurologist on whether his client’s illness had a contributory link to her offences. The court heard that Ow, a cooking instructor, was on her way to i12 Katong mall at around 3.10pm to teach a class when she overtook Tan, who was cycling, at the bend of Still Road to East Coast Road. Tan felt Ow’s car was too close to her and said, “Excuse me, watch it!” Tan caught up with Ow at a red light at the junction of East Coast Road and Joo Chiat Road to confront her. Tan stood in front of Ow’s car, which was in the middle of three lanes. In video footage from the car camera shown in court, Tan can be heard asking why Ow had overtaken her on the bend. Ow apologised to Tan, saying that she was late for her class and asked Tan why she was acting so aggressively. Ow tried a few times to reverse her car and disengage, but Tan blocked her attempts by moving closer to the car. Ow then tried to go left around the lawyer but came into contact with her bicycle. The pair got into another verbal exchange before Ow got out of her car to carry Tan’s bicycle to the side of the road. When Ow tried to drive off, Tan jumped onto the bonnet of the car, holding on to the windscreen wiper. At this point, the video played in court showed Ow muttering “okay” to herself, before driving off with Tan on the car bonnet. As Ow drove for about 100m at a speed of around 20kmh, Tan pounded on the windscreen, screaming for Ow to stop. Ow stopped the car when she reached the entrance of the shopping mall. Deputy Public Prosecutor Sunil Nair sought a short detention order (SDO) for Tan, saying she started the confrontation. Offenders given SDOs are jailed for a short time, but will not have a criminal record. The DPP said: “Ow was unable to leave the situation. Tan could have taken Ow’s particulars, but instead she detained Ow.” The defence said if the custodial threshold was crossed, the SDO should not be more than a day, which the prosecution did not object to. For causing harassment, an offender can be fined up to $5,000 and jailed for up to six months. Pritam Singh appoints ex-state counsel to defend him in court over his alleged lies to Parliament4/17/2024 SINGAPORE - Opposition leader Pritam Singh has appointed former state counsel Andre Jumabhoy as his lawyer for his case involving alleged lies he told a parliamentary committee.
According to an update on the Singapore Courts website on April 15, Mr Jumabhoy and Mr Aristotle Emmanuel Eng Zhen Yang from Mr Jumabhoy’s law firm have come on board in the case. Singh’s pre-trial conference was held on April 17, and the case has been adjourned to May 31 for another pre-trial conference. Mr Jumabhoy’s LinkedIn page shows he was with the Attorney-General’s Chambers between 2011 and 2016. During that time, he was a prosecutor in a sex-for-grades corruption trial involving a former NUS law professor. Mr Jumabhoy received a promotion to Deputy Senior State Counsel in 2014, according to his firm’s website. Singh, the Workers’ Party (WP) chief, was charged on March 19 with two counts of lying to the parliamentary committee. His charges relate to his testimony before the committee, which had been convened in November 2021 to look into a lying controversy involving his party’s former MP Raeesah Khan. On Nov 1, 2021, she admitted to lying in Parliament at an earlier sitting about details of a sexual assault case that she had alleged was mishandled by the police. She resigned on Nov 30, 2021. The parliamentary committee called Singh as a witness, and said later he had not been truthful during the hearings while under oath. It recommended referring him and WP vice-chairman Faisal Manap to the public prosecutor for further investigations with a view to consider criminal proceedings, which Parliament later endorsed. In his charge sheets, Singh allegedly gave a false answer to the committee’s questions on Dec 10 and 15, 2021. On one occasion, he allegedly said that after an Aug 8, 2021, meeting between him, Ms Khan and WP leaders Sylvia Lim and Faisal, he wanted Ms Khan to clarify in Parliament that what she told it on Aug 3 about having accompanied a rape victim to a police station was untrue. On two other occasions, he allegedly said that during a meeting with Ms Khan on Oct 3, 2021, he had asked her to come clean about her lie if the issue was brought up in the House on Oct 4. In a joint statement on March 19, the AGC and police said the prosecution decided not to charge Mr Faisal over his refusal to answer relevant questions that had been put to him by the committee. The WP MP was issued an advisory by the police to familiarise himself with conduct expected of MPs under the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act, and to refrain from any act that may be in breach of it. Lying in response to questions posed by a parliamentary committee is considered a criminal offence under the Act, and carries a maximum fine of $7,000 and a jail term of up to three years, or both. A 40-year-old Singaporean man, Noor Azhar Bin Abdul Abas, was charged on Apr. 16, 2024 with unlawfully discharging dangerous fireworks.
Allegedly set off box of fireworks According to court documents, Noor Azhar allegedly set off a box containing 25 shots of fireworks at around 10:40pm on Apr. 9 at a grass patch near Block 644 Yishun Street 61. A video of the fireworks was uploaded onto TikTok that night. The original video has since been deleted. The police were alerted and responded to the incident at around 10:42pm the same day, according to the Singapore Police Force's (SPF) news release on Apr. 15. SPF said Woodlands Police Division officers identified Noor Azhar using images from police cameras and closed-circuit television (CCTV) and through ground enquiries before arresting him on Apr. 14. Intends to plead guilty Noor Azhar is in remand and appeared in court via video-link to be charged on Apr. 16, Today reported. He said he regrets the incident and intends to plead guilty. "I feel remorseful and regretful… I truly regret that this thing has happened," he reportedly said. Noor Azhar is scheduled to return to court to plead guilty on May 28. If convicted, Noor Azhar may be jailed up to two years, handed a fine between S$2,000 and S$10,000, or both. SPF reminded the public that it is an offence to possess, sell, transport, send, deliver, distribute or import and dangerous fireworks. SPF added that they have zero tolerance against acts that endanger the lives or safety of others as well as cause undue alarm to the public, and will not hesitate to take action against those who blatantly disregard the law. Tower Transit bus driver & cyclist get into expletive-laden exchange in Hokkien over not giving way4/16/2024 A Tower Transit bus driver was filmed on April 13 engaged in a heated verbal altercation with a cyclist.
Bus driver to be counselled A spokesperson of the bus operator told media that it will counsel its bus driver in the aftermath of the incident. The spokesperson said: “The bus captain maintained a safe distance from the cyclists while going past them, however he should not have gotten into an argument and should not have used offensive language.” All Tower Transit bus drivers are taught to give cyclists a wide berth when sharing the roads with them, the spokesperson added. Clip gains traction A 21-second clip of the incident was shared on various social media channels on April 14. It has been viewed more than 224,000 times by April 16 midnight after it was shared in one Facebook group. Those who commented mostly sided with the bus driver as they slammed the road-hogging antics of cyclists. What video showed The expletive-laden video, which showed the two man arguing in Hokkien, featured colourful language. The driver could be heard telling off the cyclist to keep to the kerb. The cyclist retorted if there was something wrong with the driver that day. The driver then told the cyclist not to be too haughty or he might end up dead by the road. The cyclist got agitated and challenged the driver to get off the bus. The driver subsequently told the cyclist to go away. The cyclist then shouted and challenged the driver to follow up on his threat. The driver returned to his seat and closed the door on the cyclist, who was still shouting. The video was cut off. Car hits 12-year-old Bukit View Sec student at zebra crossing, girl taken to hospital with injuries4/16/2024 SINGAPORE - A 12-year-old girl was taken to hospital after a car knocked her down at a pedestrian crossing outside Bukit View Secondary School.
The accident took place at about 7.05am on April 16, at Bukit Batok Street 21 on the way to Bukit Batok Central, the police said. In response to queries, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said the girl was conscious when she was taken to the National University Hospital. In video footage put up on the SG Road Vigilante Facebook page, the girl is seen running across a zebra crossing after a road traffic warden waves her through. A white Honda Vezel sport utility vehicle then knocks her down and sends her flying just as she is about to reach the end of the crossing. An eyewitness said teachers from the school rushed out to check on the girl. The police said a 50-year-old male car driver is helping with investigations. In 2024, there have been at least three incidents involving children. On Jan 23, a four-year-old girl died on the spot when a car knocked her down near her home in River Valley. She was walking home from her pre-school with her two-year-old sister and maid. A 40-year-old woman suspected of careless driving causing death was later arrested. In the same month, a 12-year-old girl died after being hit by a van in Taman Jurong on Jan 30. The van driver, a 23-year-old man, was arrested for careless driving causing death, said the police. On April 1, two Fairfield Methodist School (Secondary) students, aged 12 and 13, were taken conscious to National University Hospital after an accident involving a lorry near their school in Buona Vista. Reporters has contacted Bukit View Secondary and the Ministry of Education for more information. SINGAPORE – A man concocted a plan to pose as an agent for social escorts in order to obtain free sex or discounted sexual services from the women who contacted him.
Chen Zelin, 42, told one victim she needed more “training” sessions with him and another woman she did not perform up to his expectations. Separately, he also threatened to send naked photographs of his girlfriend to her boss and colleagues in an attempt to sleep with her friends. On April 16, he was sentenced to two years and eight months’ jail after pleading guilty to two charges of cheating by personation, and one charge of threatening to release intimate images. He was married at the time of his offences. Court documents did not reveal details of his marriage. The victims cannot be named due to a gag order imposed by the court. Deputy Public Prosecutor June Ngian said that Chen placed an advertisement sometime in 2020 on online platform Locanto to recruit girls that wanted to earn a higher pay for their escort services. The first victim came across Chen’s advertisement around October 2020 and contacted him. Chen told the woman that he was able to get the girls from his agency up to 10 clients a week from the dark web. The woman agreed to provide Chen with a trial of her services at a rate of $60, instead of her usual rate of up to $400, after he said he had to assess her services first. They arranged to meet on Oct 14, 2020. After the woman provided her services to Chen, he did not contact her again for about six months. On April 4, 2021, he contacted her to say that her service had not been up to his expectations. He then offered her a second trial, which she declined. Sometime in 2021, the second victim contacted Chen after seeing his advertisement. DPP Ngian said she was working as a social escort to pay off her debts after falling victim to scams. During their conversation, Chen told the woman that he needed to see if she had the skills to please his customers. The woman asked Chen to confirm that he was running an agency for social escorts, as she was afraid of falling for another scam. He continued to deceive her and she agreed that he would not be charged for the session. After they had sex on March 22, 2021, he told her she needed to lose weight and that her skills were not up to par. He suggested that she would need more “training” sessions with him before she was ready to meet his customers, leaving her to foot the hotel room bill. Court documents did not reveal how these two cases came to light. The prosecution said Chen had reached out to 31 people, including the two victims, under the guise of a social escort agent. In July 2021, Chen entered into a relationship with the third victim, who was looking for a place to rent and also for a boyfriend. DPP Ngian said during this period, the woman agreed to send intimate photos or videos of herself on Chen’s request. Chen also threatened to show her boss their sex-related conversations if she did not allow him to take intimate photos or videos of her. The prosecution said Chen knew his girlfriend would feel threatened as she thought her work permit would be cancelled if she was fired. She gave in to his demands the next morning, with some photos showing her face clearly. On July 31, 2021, Chen sent these photos to his girlfriend and told her, “You’re sex slave. No rights.” Two days later, Chen asked her to introduce her colleagues to him to have sex. Feeling distressed, the woman made a police report and Chen was arrested on the same day. American man extradited to S’pore admits running fraudulent trading scheme involving over $18m4/16/2024 SINGAPORE – An American man was a director at Singapore-based firm Aureus Capital when he became the main person running a fraudulent forex trading scheme linked to it.
The scheme involved more than $18 million from over 1,300 clients. On April 15, Michael Philip Atkins, 51, pleaded guilty in a Singapore district court to carrying on a business for a fraudulent purpose. This came 10 years after he was first arrested here in 2014. He jumped bail subsequently. In March 2023, he was extradited from the US to Singapore. Deputy Public Prosecutor Hon Yi told the court that Atkins, who was a majority shareholder of the firm, had full control of the scheme which used only a fraction of the clients’ monies for forex trading. The prosecutor added: “The scheme was run in the style of a classic ‘Ponzi’, where the purported returns to clients were paid using the funds from other clients... Such a business model was clearly unsustainable and... the company finally imploded.” In the end, the clients received around $12.7 million in total from Aureus Capital and they suffered nearly $6 million in losses. DPP Hon urged the court to sentence Atkins to up to three years and eight months’ jail, adding: “In effect, the scheme was his and all losses caused to the clients of Aureus must be directly attributable to him only.” Between April 2013 and July 2014, Aureus Capital offered leveraged foreign exchange trading services and schemes. Clients entered into agreements allowing Aureus Capital to engage in forex trading on their behalf. Under these agreements, the company would be entitled to 40 to 50 per cent of the profits generated from the trading, while the losses from trading would be fully borne by the clients. At the time of the offence, Aureus Capital maintained two trading accounts with Oanda Asia Pacific, a separate company which offers foreign exchange trading. Clients were told that Auereus Capital would manage their funds by trading forex on Oanda, said DPP Hon. They were instructed to transfer cash into a bank account. The bank account received more than $18 million in total from clients between April 2, 2013, and July 15, 2014. Instead of using the amount for forex trading, more than $14.7 million was used for other purposes, such as paying Aureus Capital’s directors, including Atkins. Only around $1.7 million of the more than $18 million was deposited into Oanda, the court heard. Weekly statements sent to clients concealed the fact that only a small portion of clients’ funds was used for forex trading. The weekly statements also reported profits which were not reflective of actual trading results. In fact, Aureus Capital was making losses on its Oanda trading accounts. According to the clients, they were told on June 13, 2014, that Aureus Capital needed to cease trading as it was acquiring a banking licence. The clients did not receive any money when they asked for their investments to be withdrawn. Subsequent e-mails from the company claimed that it was being rebranded, and that all clients’ monies would be refunded by July 28, 2014. Clients alerted the police when the company and its directors became uncontactable soon after. Atkins was arrested. An Interpol red notice was issued against him after he jumped bail. Such a notice requests law enforcement units worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or other legal actions. He was traced in the US in 2017 and an extradition request was sent to the authorities there three years later. He was successfully extradited to Singapore and re-arrested here on March 18, 2023. Atkins will be sentenced on April 25. |
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