Car Dealer Cheated 17 Customers of S$900K; 7 Cars were Repossessed by Creditor

Picture a scenario where you’ve paid tens of thousands of dollars for a brand new car, only to realise later on that the vehicle’s ownership had actually yet to be transferred to you.

And to make things worse? Your car, which you would eventually get attached to, gets sold off in an unforgiving fashion.

Right into another car owner’s arms.

Sounds like an absolute nightmare? Well, it certainly happened.

To at least seven victims too.

Car Dealer Cheated 17 Customers of S$900K; 7 Cars were Repossessed by Creditor

According to TODAYonline, 56-year-old Lee Kin Wah was the owner of Ken Garage, which is situated along Turf Club Road.

In early 2018, he put pen to paper in a credit facility contract with SRS Auto Holdings.

SRS would provide financing in terms of loans, while Lee would mortgage a vehicle of at least equivalent value.

The latter would then sell off the pledged vehicle at a presumably higher price, so as to settle the loan and earn some profits at the same time.

Sounds like a clear cut deal, right? Well, that’s how the plan was supposed to go anyway.

Instead of fulfilling his end of the bargain, Lee decided to keep the funds to supplement his company’s cash flow, in the process alienating both financer and consumer.

From September 2017 and February 2019, 17 customers reportedly forked out between S$10,178 and S$100,073 for an assortment of vehicles.

Though they managed to receive their cars, the customers would eventually realise that the much-coveted ownership title had not been transferred over.

In some cases, the cars were even repossessed and later retailed to other buyers.

According to the news report, the total amount involved some S$909,000. Lee is said to have since made restitution of around S$369,000.

Sentencing

In court, Deputy Public Prosecutor Daphne Jazreen Chee pushed for a sentence of six years and two months, arguing that Lee was a serial cheater who had duped a number of trusting buyers.

On the other hand, Lee’s lawyer SS Dhillon campaigned for a term of three years and six months.

In mitigation, Mr Dhillon stated that the defendant had made restitution, and did not actually keep the funds for personal gains.

Lee has also retailed his Housing and Development Board flat to raise funds for his victims and is said to be living in his brother’s flat now.

Apparently, the defendant has been reduced to just S$80 in his bank account.

“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.”

“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.

Lee eventually pleaded guilty to six counts of cheating. He was sentenced to four years and four months in jail.

He will start to see out his sentence on 22 April 2021.

For each charge of cheating, he could have faced a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine.

Other Instances

Unfortunately, cheating cases have been rather prevalent of late.

As recently as 22 March 2021, a director of two companies was charged with cheating and for being a party to fraudulent trading.

Over a period of three years, Ng managed to draw investments of up to S$1 billion into his two companies, according to TODAYonline.

The investments were supposed to finance nickel trading activities, but the authorities now believe this was a sham. It’s reportedly one of the largest financial fraud cases in Singapore.

And on 17 March 2021, the former director of Faith Educare, a now-defunct chain of childcare centres, and two of her former employees were charged with cheating the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA).

Josephine Tan Poh Choo, 53, Arulnandam Rajeswary, 53, and 42-year-old Fatimah Bivee Mohd Shariff had cheated the agency into giving grants for children who were not enrolled in the school at the time.

The grant in question is the Child Care Subsidies Scheme, which the ECDA administers.

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